I went into college prepared, ready to show Purdue the knowledge I acquired in high school. I was ready to apply my study habits that I developed in high school to my classes in college. I was eager to take on the challenges that engineering posed, excited to stand at the foot of the bell tower, ready to walk under after graduation. Soon after college began, all of my dreams felt as though they were shattered. Being a straight A student in high school, I knew that I would be able to achieve greatness in college. However, what I thought I “knew” would soon turn to dust and my world would be turned upside down.
Every college student experiences hardships. These hardships can occur anywhere from classes to friendships to family tension. If you are feeling like you can’t escape from the so-called bad luck, you are not alone. Not one student in college could tell you that he or she thought college was a breeze. All majors contain obstacles, and all friendships and families will experience some type of uneasy pressure. The most important thing to understand, however, is how to get through these moments that make us feel like it’s time to give up, the moments that make us feel like we aren’t good enough.
Throughout my freshman year of college, I learned that befriending professors would make the processes of college more comforting. My professors began to seem like friendly acquaintances who soon turned into colleagues whom I felt comfortable talking to. They were people, too. They took the same footsteps that we are taking. Going to my professor’s office hours might have been the best decision I made my freshman year of college because my professors knew me by name and face. They knew I was trying my best and getting help when needed. They knew when to give me a pep talk or when to explain that everything will be okay.
Starting second semester of my freshman year, my world tipped upside down. I felt myself crumble as I walked into class each day. Everything was so new to me, the material, the assignments, the exams. I couldn’t stand the thought of failing. Failure, to me, was not understanding. My body grew weak as I tried to teach myself the concepts while I read the textbook. Nothing made sense. The text just looked like a jumbled mess. Each day I left class with tears in my eyes and the feeling of defeat. I spend hours in my professors’ office that semester trying to understand the material. They worked with me, explained in detail. It took me up until the last month of the semester to really grasp the information. However, I didn’t give up. I pushed myself.
Freshman year is a struggle, especially for those with high hopes and strong expectations. It is such a new process, a new place, where people treat each other differently than they did in high school. Professors have higher expectations of the students. It takes time to figure out what college is all about. It takes time to learn the methods you are going to use in order to make it through college.
After getting through freshman year, I thought the hard part was over. I was ready to start sophomore year with a new head on my shoulders. As the year began and progressed, I felt myself deteriorate, little by little. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. All I knew was that my grades were not where they should be. I was confused because I thought that I truly understood what I was learning. My only thought was that it was time to give up. I was not meant to be an engineer. I was not good enough. I kept telling myself this as I got my exams back. It took me about five Facebook posts from my father and a long conversation from my professor to realize that college is hard and that the struggle happens to everyone. Failure is a part of college, a part of life. Without failure, how will you learn?
A wise man once told me, “Never let yourself get too down or too high. There will always be tomorrow with new opportunities, new challenges, new things to learn, more successes and yes, more failures. Always remember that life is a journey with each success and each failure just a stepping stone in your path. Don't allow the stress you put on yourself to diminish the joy of your journey. Live, love, laugh and dance.”
Those were the words of my father. He believed in me every step of the way through my first year and a half of college. However, I didn’t believe in myself. I soon figured out that I needed to listen to the words he was saying instead of just reading through them.
My professor told me, “I want you to succeed. I want you to be confident. I know you are confident on the inside, but you look so defeated on the outside. You need to go into this quiz looking confident on the outside in order to do well.”
I walked out of her office after she said this with a pit in my stomach. I’ve been putting immense stress on myself because I didn’t want to fail. However, the stress was getting in the way of achieving what I actually had the ability to do.
Many people will tell you that you are great or that you are smart and have the ability to do whatever you set your mind to. However, the only person who can actually tell you that you can do it is yourself. College will throw many curve balls at you. The only way you will get through it is if you believe in yourself. Life is not easy, and if it were, no one would learn from their mistakes, no one would improve, and no one would be able to push themselves to be the person they have always dreamed to be. The obstacles college throws at you are only to make you stronger. As long as you have your dream in the back of your mind, you will be able to tackle those obstacles. Failure is just a part of life. Everyone experiences it. What really matters is how you choose to react to that failure. Are you going to pick yourself up, brush off your shoulders, and try again? Or are you going to stay fixed on the ground, having the feeling forever stuck in your head that you are not good enough?
