It’s evident that you’ll learn a thing or two about your future career while you’re in college, but what they don’t tell you is about all of the unspoken lessons you’ll learn. Going into college, I thought that I knew everything about just about everything--and oh, boy, was I wrong. I have learned more lessons in my first two years of college than I did in the other 18 years of my life, and I couldn’t be more thankful for any of it.
No one, and I mean no one has his or her life together just yet. Growing up, I had always been enamored by the idea of people that were able to keep it together and seem confident while doing it. College is where you see people at their best and their worst, and that is when you realize that at the age you are now it’s okay not to have your life together, because your entire life is just lessons learned over time.
People will put on facades for the rest of the world to see. This is even more evident if you’re going to college with someone that you went to high school with. While some people remain genuine and true, others take this as a fresh, clean slate from what they used to know and try to become something new. Over time (usually after first semester of freshman year when people realize how exhausting it is to be something you’re not), people tend to become their true selves again and find their way back to their old roots.
Anxiety is very real. In high school, mental illness is brushed under the carpet, yet in college, it is hard to hide. The massive amount of essays, homework assignments, and presentations is enough to drive anyone crazy… But they don’t tell you that at orientation, now, do they?
Get involved. Okay, maybe they do tell you this at orientation, but you learn quickly that getting involved is the easiest way to make friends. Not only does it help your social life, it also helps boost your resume (a win-win)-- so why on earth wouldn’t you get involved? If you have, you’ve surely seen the benefits it has offered you over your college career.
You’re going to have to learn to compromise. You and your roommate are going to fight, it’s inevitable. There are going to be guys who will treat you like dirt and professors that are going to make you want to cry on a regular basis. Compromising and abiding by what you're supposed to do will help you to go sailing smoothly through the school year.
Although all of that sounds so unappealing, there are also some perks to the things you’ll learn in college. For instance, you’ll meet your lifelong friends (and maybe even a potential boyfriend or two) along the way, you’ll meet a professor who will teach you more valuable lessons and you’ll have a blast along the way. See? It isn’t so bad after all!
