There always seems to be someone that wants something from you. Whether it’s something small like your friend wanting you to go out or something big like your boyfriend wanting to move in together. There is always someone knocking on your door waiting to cash in a favor that you never promised them.

However, this year I have learned that you don’t owe anyone anything. If you don’t want to do something, guess what? You don’t have to do it. These days it seems like we always need a reason if we don’t want to do something. Since when has, “no, I don’t want to” become an invalid reason for not wanting to do something or go somewhere? We constantly feel the need to have a valid reason for not wanting to do something but it’s about time that no starts to become okay.

It’s hard to really know what you want because you base your interests off what your friends are doing. If your friends are constantly going out, it is easy to become tangled up in that web. But, it is okay to say no sometimes and take some time to yourself to figure out what makes you happy and what you want to do. Your top priority should be you.

College is the time to be selfish and do whatever it is that you want. Soon you are going to grow up and get a real-world job and have a family. You think you’re going to have time for yourself and do what you want then? No ma’am, you are not. These are the times when you have the power to do what makes you happy and you don’t need to listen to anyone. You don’t need the approval of anyone except you.

In my case, I was hanging out with these girls that I wasn’t really even friends with. I didn’t like what they stood for and how they acted, always talking behind each other’s backs. They constantly asked when we were going to hang out and would plan to do things I didn’t want to do. And one day I realized that I don’t need their approval. I don’t need to keep putting up with them when they don’t really care about my friendship or me. And when I realized that little thing, my whole perspective changed.

In college you want to make new friends and have fun, but I feel that people get too caught up in that and stop trying to find out who they really are and what they want to do. It is a difficult thing to realize, but once you do, you can cut out all the negative things in your life that are weighing you down and just be happy.

So, go out and have fun and don’t let people drag you down with everything they want from you. It’s easy to be pulled in a thousand different directions trying to make everyone else happy. But just do you and the rest will fall into place.