If I had a dollar for every time I heard the statement, "College was the best time of my life", I would be filthy rich. For most people, college is about friends, drinking, partying, exploring and going crazy. For me, college was about more than that. Though sometimes I wish my college experience had been a bit more freeing and adventurous, it was unique in its own way and I have grown up tremendously because of it. I learned countless lessons along the way, some better than others, and some harder than others, but all of them were important nonetheless. Below is a list of the most important things I learned while in college.
1. Appreciate the hard times for they allow the good times to exist.
I went through a lot of personal trials and tribulations in college. For two years, I wasn't content with where I was at or what I was doing. But once everything clicked and got better, I realized those hard times were important because they made me appreciate the place I had finally arrived at. I needed those struggles to eventually find peace with where I was at.
2. Find a way to pursue your dreams.
I went to college to play tennis. Obviously getting my degree was important too, but because tennis was paying for my education, I thought that it had to be my main priority. As I went through college, I realized tennis wasn't going to be my forever and I had other interests that I wanted to pursue. I knew my free time to explore these other interests was limited due to my college sport commitment, but I also knew that if there's a will, there's a way. Because of my persistence during college, I searched hard to find other outlets for my interests and to make time available in my schedule to pursue them. In the end, I was able to complete two virtual internships and I also started doing freelance writing, as well. I found a way to get involved in ways that would help my future and to also pursue my love of writing. I realized that with enough searching, I could find something that would fit into both my schedule and time constraints perfectly.
3. Friendships can't be forced.
Some people you click with, some you don't. Some people are meant to be lifelong friends, others are just a chapter in your book of life. I realized you can't force friendships, or relationships, with anyone. The connection has to be mutual and both parties have to want the friendship to last. If one person doesn't make an effort, don't dwell on it. Just know it wasn't meant to be.
4. Adventure fills the soul.
Both the best and happiest times of my college career were the ones that took me to new places, beautiful places, different places, random places, etc. Adventure can be whatever you want it to be, but for me, it meant experiencing everything. Over the past four years, I have been to all sorts of places and I have seen and experienced many things from beautiful mountains, to ugly towns, to gorgeous sunsets, to bad weather -- you name it. All of these times were adventures that filled up the pages in my book of life.
5. Always, always, always find a way to make money.
As mentioned above, my free time was limited in college so I had to get creative with making money. But I was always able to find a way, whether it was through summer jobs, part time jobs, or freelance jobs, to make some sort of income. This was because I was constantly looking for job opportunities. I knew I wanted to have money of my own so I made it a priority to make money. I wanted to be able to travel, to buy my friends nice gifts, to go home to visit my family, to buy myself a new shirt, etc. I realized that you should always be on the lookout for odd jobs. There's nothing more rewarding than working and earning your own money because then you can spend it on what you want.
