Love Yourself First
I have found that this is something very hard to learn how to do. There are always so many people wanting your attention and wanting to spend their time with you, but sometimes you have to learn to be selfish. Being selfish is definitely something that is not good in many aspects of life, but for a first year college student I think it is acceptable to spend more time on you than on others. Loving yourself and focusing on yourself first is the most important thing when trying to figure out who you are and what you want out of your life.
School isn’t everything
Of course this sounds crazy, but it is so important to make sure that you are balancing your school life with your social life. School is obviously very important and is why everyone is at college, but you have to take time to relax and just be a stupid college student every once and a while. You will go insane if you don’t.
You find lifelong friends
In college, as cliché as it sounds, you do find your lifelong friends. Don’t get me wrong; some of your best friends from high school will be some of your life long friends. But the girls you meet in college will understand you in a way that your friends back home do not. You go through all the bad times and the good times together; your memories start to become their memories, your bad days start to become their bad days, and your lives begin to collide in a way unlike any other friendship. You experience the best time of your life together, and nothing can compare to that.
Learn how to rely on yourself
You go from relying on your parents for everything to leaving for college and being totally on your own. Well, maybe not totally, but your parents will not always be around to do everything for you. Although you will have some of the greatest friends to help you through tough situations, you have to learn that you can only rely on yourself. There are going to be times when only you can change what is going wrong in your life, and that is okay. You have to learn how to stand up for yourself and get things done on your own.
Put yourself out there
There is no better time in your life to try everything you have ever wanted to do than now. You`re young and you have the world in your hands. You get to choose your own destiny, so no matter how bad it embarrasses you, put yourself out there. Email the person in charge of hiring the position for the internship you want a million and one times, talk to the boy that you think is so cute and make new friends that might be a little bit outside of your comfort zone. You don’t get the chance to relive this part of your life, so take advantage of every opportunity you are given and run with it.
You`ll miss the small things at home
You know those car rides with your mom to the grocery store? Or watching sports with your dad every weekend or weeknight? The evenings when you hang out with your sibling(s) doing anything and everything? Or maybe even just having food and a kitchen just steps away? Yeah, you might not think these things are important to you or that you will miss them, but you will. Don’t take advantage of them while you still have them. When you leave for school you`re going to miss all the small things at home. Do not rush through the small things, enjoy them while you have them, college is coming either way.
Boys won`t be what you expected
You probably think that all the boys in your high school are so immature, stupid and annoying and cannot wait to get to college because the boys will be so different. Well, do not get your hopes up because college boys are still immature, stupid and annoying. You will still get your heart broken, still talk with all your girlfriends about how cute a boy is and still go on a bad first date; some things will never change. However what does change is your perspective. Not every boy you meet will be the typical college boy, and you’ll know when you find him. Every once in a while you will come across a boy that is worth your time and is a really great guy. But remember, it never hurts to be cautious.