Ah, early adulthood! Our first tastes of freedom and responsibility, filled with days of perceived invincibility and endless self-definition. Young adulthood is absolutely the era in which one shapes themselves and sets the foundation of who they will make themselves out to be in life. And how do most people spend these years? Same place we are — in college.

College is filled with parties, adventures, friendships, dating and possibly the most fun you'll have in your entire life. College will represent the memories you look back to in dull periods of your life. College represents the potential of finding your best friend, colleague, even your soulmate. This will be the place where your identity is born, and honestly, that's so thrilling. Unfortunately, finding yourself takes work, and becoming an adult takes learning responsibility. Often, it becomes really difficult to decide when to put the parties and adventures to rest, when to set the friendships and dating on hold, when to stop putting the "pro" in procrastination and finally decide to make steps toward your adult life. Here are a couple easy ways you can change you life for the better.

1. Party on special occasions.

You know that line "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"? It's definitely true. There are real adults who go out and have a great time with their friends. The reason is that they celebrate the little victories. Things start to take on different meaning as we mature into our adult life. Birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, great grades on tests, all reasons to celebrate. The fact that it's Thursday? Not the best reason.

2. Be OK with canceling plans.

If your friends can't understand that you're working on a becoming a better you, then you probably need to re-evaluate if they are the best people to have in your life. My mother always said, "Tell me who your friends are; I'll tell you who you are." You should surround yourself with like-minded people. If you are working on becoming a big girl, surround yourself with other big girls. Find a mentor. Seriously. If being in a sorority has taught me one thing, it's the importance of peer role models.

3. Date for the right reasons.

Whatever those reasons may be, they are different for us all. Make sure that the way you are presenting yourself now is the way you want people to remember you in the future. Like I said before, they could be your soulmate.

Taking steps toward the life you want doesn't have to mean abandoning the things that make you happy. That which you hold important will continue to hold throughout your life, but the most important step you can take is evaluating whether the things that make you happy now are what you want to make you happy later. Everyone is different, and there is no set of steps created to perfectly fit all journeys, so it's up to us to find out what it is that will propel us forward.