College is humbling. I thought I was pretty smart in high school—I was in National Honors Society, I did research! But all those extracurriculars don’t really mean jack at college. It was really enlightening to see all the activities I had devoted my last four years to reduced to resume fodder. In another, less bitter way, this virtual erasing of all of my prior accomplishments gave me a chance to start anew and cultivate new interests.
I was, in my mind, a “star student” in high school; I was a (mostly) straight A student and I was involved in multiple extracurriculars, including various honor societies, clubs, and orchestra. These activities had a large impact on who I was as a person, as they introduced me people and hobbies that I became devoted to. When I came to college, I was not able to continue almost any of these things, leading me to lose touch with past times that had once shaped me as a person. A silver lining did exist, though. Losing touch with these things helped me begin anew in terms of my interests and allowed me to focus on things that were more important to me, such as pledging, cultivating my Spanish speaking skills, and becoming friends with more varied types of people.
Right after the first semester ended, I reflected back on the losses and gains I experienced in general in my first semester at college, and I realized I could go forward with two attitudes. I could very easily be resentful of the fact that I had to sacrifice things I loved to expand my horizons, or I could let go and try to continue in my life instead of dwelling on the past. I absolutely loved the extracurriculars that I was part of in high school, and having these suddenly torn from me left me feeling hollow. When I first entered college I longed to fill this void with various time killers, and it wasn’t until a good chunk of the semester had passed that I needed to let go and find things that would make me happy at that point in my life.
These activities, such as connecting with new people, joining clubs, and yes, even writing for Odyssey, have helped me expand my horizons and make me happy in a way I wouldn’t have thought was possible when I first entered college. I realized that finding my place in the world on my own was tough and that I had to take an active role to seek out avenues that could provide a sense of happiness and belonging in college.
