There are many reasons why college changed how I felt about my life and has helped my overall well-being. You always hear in High School that “Life will get better,” and at that moment it REALLY doesn’t seem like that that could be possible. I remember how difficult my senior year of High School was because you feel so lost. You feel like you have to have it all figured out, you’re afraid of losing your friends, moving away from family, and having to start all over again. But all of those things are why college is absolutely amazing. It’s a blessing in disguise, truly. You just have to jump right in!

A Fresh Start

You get to finally be the person you always knew you were without living in fear of judgment. No one here knows you! No one already has set expectations for you or thinks they know you based off of what someone else said about you in the halls. Now you get to introduce yourself without restraining any part of your personality back. This is how you are going to meet people who are just like you!

Distance

You get to pick where you want to live. If that isn’t exciting on its own, then I don’t know what else would be. You get to choose if you want to live at a large school or a small school and you get to choose the type of education you want for yourself.

Independence

You finally get to make big decisions for yourself. What you want to do and where you want to go with that. And independence doesn’t just mean big decisions but the small ones, too: what you want to eat for dinner, when you want to go to bed, when you want to go to hangout with people. No more being in situations you don’t want to be in. You make the choices around here.

Family

Yes, this part seems pretty scary. What are you going to do with your family not there to take care of you? Well, I have personally found that once I moved away from my family I wasn’t as frustrated anymore over dumb stuff (like your siblings stealing your stuff). But in all honesty, being away from your family makes the times when you do hang out with them a lot more meaningful and that is always the best feeling.

Friends

Finally, the chance to meet people like you. You get to meet people in classes who picked those classes for the same reason as you did; you’re curious, you’re interested, you’re passionate. You are finally surrounded by people who care just as much as you do about what you are doing and through that, you are bound to bond with others around you.

Community

Dorms! You get to meet people just where you live. Imagine being able to go over to your friend’s “house” whenever you want because she lives just down the hall or on the floor below you. You will meet so many people just from living with them. It’s like having a sleepover every day with your favorite people but in your own bed.

Social Status

Social status does not exist as much as it did in High School. That seemed to be the number one priority in High School but in college, there are soooo many people in your graduating class that not everyone knows each other. Also, the people in your major tend to become your new best friends and that is all that matters.

Doing Something You Care About 

You are here to do the thing you love the most because you are good at it or because you enjoy it. This means that all of your classes are centered around something you care about which means you’ll most likely enjoy it more than that dumb social studies class you had to take in High School. Also, because you are in classes with others who also care, no more doing group projects where you are the only one doing all of the work. You are more motivated to do the work because you know that you will need the information for future reference.

Schedule Design

You get to create your own schedule. Remember those days in High School where you didn’t want to wake up at 7a.m., you were so hungry but lunch wasn’t for another two periods, or you were so tired but you couldn’t sleep for another couple of hours? Well, when you design your schedule, you get to pick what times you get breaks for lunch or just in general. You don’t have to have 8:30 classes if you don’t want to and it works out with the schedule you want. Some days you’ll only have 2-5 classes a day rather than 6 or  7 like you do in High School. You pick what you do and when you want to do it.

So Much to Experience

In college, you never know what is going to happen next and that is what makes it so fun.  New opportunities to meet new people, have fun, and connect to others is always possible. You meet someone new nearly every day. You never know what life is going to do for you. There is so much more to get involved in. Your weekends can be as busy or relaxing as you want them. There were so many times throughout the semester that I didn’t have plans to do anything exciting and I somehow got plans as the day went on and I talked to people.

 

The moral of the story is that if you are a current high school student and you are so scared about your future, meeting new people, and leaving your old life behind, you shouldn’t be nervous at all! You are going to have a great time. You are going to become the leader of your life. You have no one to please but yourself, so do the things you’ve always wanted to do; be the person you’ve always wanted to be. If anything, this will be the most exciting time of your life so prepare to emerge in an experience that satisfies all of your needs.

You’ve got this!

Laurel ❤

Enjoy this picture of me a year ago at my auditions for Miami

Uncategorized friends life lifestyle newstart school support