At this point in my college career, I really have learned so much. I can tell you about some of the most obscure plays in modern drama or pretty much the complete brief overview of Irish history. I can solve calculus problems, show you every muscle in your arm, and explain to you how to give a flu shot. I have also acquired other skills, like how to live on a consistent sleep schedule of just four hours per night and the art of microwaving ramen perfectly. My liberal arts education has done so much for me in just two and a half years. But the most important thing that I have learned at school so far is how to love myself.
It should come as no surprise that as a twenty-year-old girl I am very familiar with the concept of being unhappy with myself. I wear self-consciousness like an accessory. And, just like every college girl, I know that I have one pair of jeans that fits me much better than the rest and that wearing black is always the answer. I too have been trained to eat a salad for dinner almost every night. It is second nature to me to brush off compliments, but to hold the negative comments in the back of my mind forever. I have been conditioned how to behave in a certain way, how to maintain a certain look and a certain reputation. We all spend our days comparing ourselves to one another. But I think we can all acknowledge that there is so much more to us than our day’s calorie count or our weekend escapades.
It has taken me a long time to finally be able to be comfortable with every aspect of who I am. I may never be the smartest person in my field, but it’s definitely okay to be proud of my good grades and the fact that reading nonfiction books on weekends is sometimes more appealing to me than battling the nightclub scene. It’s okay that I laugh at my own jokes and that my ideal sleeping schedule is from about 3 AM to 10 AM. My sisters and family are the most important things in my life. And if I am really upset, the only things that will make it better are coffee, cats, or chocolate (but I definitely, definitely don’t want to talk about it). I don’t wear makeup on weekdays and the last time I wore something other than leggings to class was probably in high school. I am so far from perfect, and I am finally learning that my life is better this way.
We have spent our entire lives being shown what it is that we aren’t, and may never be. And we have seen this as a flaw, as something that we need to fix. Coming to college, there is forever going to be someone smarter, prettier, and more interesting. And as frustrating as it is, the sooner we accept this the sooner we can begin to grow. College is all about learning new things and discovering who it is that we truly are. It’s time to stop worrying about things that we cannot change and embrace the biggest lesson that we can learn in this crazy, hectic time of our life. And If, on graduation day, the only thing you leave campus with is an idea of who you are and the ability to love yourself in your entirety, then I would say that it was four years well spent—even if your parents don’t agree.
