A disturbing trend has entrenched itself way in the culture of college campuses across the country: the drive that students have to achieve (or at least make others believe that they achieve) perfection in every aspect of their life. Now don’t get me wrong, having goals is outstanding and being motivated to achieve those goals is even better. But expecting perfection? That is not amazing; in fact, it is often extraordinarily counterproductive. When students, especially freshman, are constantly surrounded by their peers who boast that their classes are easy, who know exactly what they want to major in, or who are already lining up internships, the need to compete often follows. They feel like they need to keep up with the break neck pace with which everyone around them seems to be reaching for the future.
Spoiler alert people: nobody is perfect and no one succeeds in every aspect of their life. That kid who sleeps through calculus and still gets an A might have turned his entire load of white clothes pink because he added a red sock to the load. The girl in your hall who seems to get invited to every closed party might not be sleeping because she misses home so much. The guy that sits next to you and brags about how he has known that he was going to be a doctor since he was four may actually hate being pre-med, but is afraid to consider any other options.
Perfection is not something that anyone can achieve, but that is okay. A lot of people to whom life seems to come easily are merely putting on a show because they feel just as terrified and confused about the future as you do. So when you start to feel like you can’t compete with your peers, remember that they’re all in the same position as you. College exists to help students explore new options, which means that you don’t have to arrive on campus with your life plan already carefully established, you can take advantage of everything that these four years have to offer.