College definitely offers itself to be a major learning experience- especially during your first year. I think we can all agree that your first year of college is one of the hardest, not just because of classes but because you’re learning how to transition from the world you left behind in high school and enter into the world of adulthood. Everything from living in the dorms to debating whether or not to go to lecture gave you some form of a life lesson that you take with you into your journey. For me some of these lessons were subtle things that came with time and others presented themselves full force. Here are a few of the major lessons that these past nine months have taught me.
You won’t get along with everyone you meet, and that’s okay.
In college you truly meet people from all walks of life, and unlike high school its not always easy to find a group of people you get along with right away. On top of that you meet people with views, opinions, and values that are way different than your own- and its perfectly fine. It is the perfect way of learning tolerance and when to pick your metaphorical battles, skills that are important when it comes to dealing with people in your future workplace.
True friends stand by you no matter what.
This particular lesson mainly shows itself over time. Some times you may start to feel like you have a few very close friends, but situations will arise that will show you exactly who your real friends are. Those friends will never turn their back on you in a time of need and will forgive you when you mess up because they love you for you and realize you’re only human. True friends realize the value of your friendship and know that nothing is worth losing it over.
There is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it.
Sometimes we allow our pride to get in the way when we are struggling, whether its with personal issues, financial issues, or even in the classroom. We fear what people will think of us for asking for help, and it usually ends pretty badly. Resources are given to us for a reason: to use them when we need them. No one will realize you’re struggling unless you ask, and things typically don’t get better until you ask.
There is also nothing wrong with calling your parents every day.
We can get so caught up with school, between homework and social lives, that we forget about our parents. Personally, I’ve always been extremely close to my mom and having to go off to college and be away from her after eighteen years of seeing her every day was one of the hardest things for both her and I to do. I’ll admit, its not easy to always make time to talk since we both have such busy schedules, but we try to make sure to call or text each other every day. It definitely helps (in my opinion) to take care of the bits of homesickness I occasionally get. Plus, she always is able to offer advice for any issue that’s going on.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
I know, it can be super tempting to take 19+ units in a quarter all while being super involved in campus activities. If you’re one of those people who is very good at planning out your time and sticking to it, then great. Unfortunately, not all of us are that gifted and sometimes we struggle to balance our commitments and end up struggling and stressed out. Before making any commitment make sure you can 100% stick to it, otherwise you put your mental health at risk and may end up letting down the people who are depending on you.
Stressing yourself out doesn’t help anything.
This one is pretty self explanatory. We’ve all been super stressed at one point or another and it never goes well. We typically end up sick, emotional, and sleep deprived, none of which will help the situation in any way. So, to avoid stressing out think about what went wrong from when you last stressed out. From this, you can better plan your time or your money (or both) to prevent stressing out. Also, make sure you’re leaving some time in your day to wind down and do something you enjoy.
You have choices every day, and sometimes its not easy to decide what is best for you.
We’ve all been faced with the decision of hitting the snooze button or even skipping lecture. Basically, when it comes to decision big and small it all comes down to doing what you think is best for you in the long run. People may not always be happy with what you choose or understand it, but you have to do what you need to. I’ll admit I’ve definitely made some decisions that ended in people being angry at me, maybe even losing some friendships in the process, but in the end the decisions I’ve made are ones that will help me grow as a person and minimize the amount of stress I would go through.
Believe in yourself.
This goes hand and hand with the last lesson. And I know, it is possibly the cheesiest and cliché lesson of all, but it is beyond true. Anything you do in life will require confidence. You need to believe in every choice you make and everything you do, because honestly if you don’t believe in yourself, who is going to believe in you? You provide your own strength in everything that you do. Never forget that.