I think it’s a given that all freshmen, at one time or another, have been lost or confused during their first year of college. Just like any new experience in life, college is all about adapting, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes and moving forward. The generic advice we hear before departing doesn’t seem to really prepare us, which is why I’ve created a list of five essential things you definitely NEED to hear coming into your first year of college.
1. Be prepared to lose friends. It sounds rough, but it’s all part of the natural progression of life. You end one stage (high school) and begin another. Just as you are constantly changing, so does the circle of people you choose to surround yourself with. Sure, those high school friends were good at getting you through the dramas of a bad prom date, but you’ll see that you’ll yearn for people that can help you get through the hardships of your college life. You’ll end up making even stronger connections with people who share your matured mentality, your lofty aspirations and your newfound beliefs about the world
2. You will make mistakes, but it’s better than never having put yourself out there. If you aren’t making mistakes in college, then you aren’t challenging yourself enough. Of course, it’s easy to sit back and watch others mess up and judge them for it. But the truth is that they are going to be learning in doing so, while you will not be. I can think of many a time when I made a complete fool out of myself in the past two years, but hey, those moments are what comprise my life. If we didn’t make mistakes, our lives would be boring, trust me.
3. Don’t catch yourself doing nothing. If you ever catch yourself in college saying, “I’m bored,” don’t be so fast to blame the school, the people and basically everything else besides yourself. You are lucky enough to be at a school that caters to the diverse interests of the student body, yet you are bored. It’s not the school that is at fault, it’s your mentality. A change in school and surroundings won’t save you. You need to realize on your own that there is so much to do, which you have yet to explore.
4. Don’t dwell on things; move on. Nothing irks me quite like when people dwell on things from the past. Whether it’s the party the previous weekend or a cat fight from high school, what’s in the past, is the past; you are only hurting yourself by letting it anchor you down. Soon you will see that college really does fly by and you will have wished that you spent more time living in the “now” rather than the “what was”.
5. Hold on to what drives you. If you are lucky enough to already know what you want to do with your life, then let that be your motivation. Although you will have plenty of people encouraging you, you will also have people who are going to doubt you. Don’t succumb to the power others think they have over you. Not everyone can say they have a passion, so if you do have one, hold on to it and don’t ever downplay it to make others feel better about themselves.
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