10 Things I Learned My Sophomore Year of College
As this year comes to a close, I reflected on the 10 most important things I’ve learned during my sophomore year:
1. Everything that happens is a learning experience.
Every experience, either good or bad is meant to teach you something. Whether it is a difficult professor, a mean girl, or a stupid boy – every situation will teach you something different and valuable that you can use throughout your life.
2. Learn to love yourself.
You can’t expect someone else to love you if you don’t love yourself, including all your insecurities. You are a beautiful person, no matter who you are and you should recognize that and embrace it.
3. It is okay to make mistakes.
You are only human, you make mistakes and you are not perfect. Don’t get upset if you make a mistake, use it as a learning experience that you can grow from and will make you a better person.
4. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish.
It is okay to put yourself first every once in a while. You are the most important person and you need to take care of yourself even if that means being selfish from time to time.
5. Appreciate your best friends you go to school with.
Make sure every once in a while you say thank you and love you to your best friends at college. They are there with you everyday and stand by you through everything – your sad days, stressed days, happy days, bad nights, and everything in between. They are your family at school and you need to make sure you show them how much they mean to you.
6. Appreciate your family and the friends you don’t go to school with.
Sometimes we tend to forget about the people we don’t see or talk to everyday. But they are as equally as important as the people you see everyday. Make sure you give them a call every once in a while to check in to see how they are doing and let them know how much they mean to you.
7. Recognize when a relationship no longer serves you.
I think the most important lesson I learned this year was when a relationship no longer brings you happiness or lifts you up, it is time to reevaluate the relationship. If a relationship brings you more stress than happiness it is time to end the relationship, or at least take a break from it for a while.
8. It is okay to fail, but don’t let yourself be defined by the failure.
Like mistakes, failing is inevitable. But you can’t let yourself be defined by your failures. Your failures will only make you a stronger and smarter person. Every successful person will tell you that they failed so many times before they succeeded, and that their success was built on their failures.
9. You don’t have to have it all figured out.
You are all so young – freshmen, sophomores, juniors, even seniors in college. You don’t need to have your whole life planned out at this very moment; you have the rest of your life to figure that out.
10. Live life to the fullest – you only get to live this life once.
Embrace this beautiful life you have and live every moment to the fullest. Take chances, go on adventures, and be daring. Smile, laugh, and be happy. You only live once, so live it right.