You spent your entire high school years working to get into the college of your dreams. The PSATS, then the SATS, the service hours, the extracurricular activities, perfecting your college essay, sports, interviews, hours of homework, applications, and the agonizing wait for results. Every move you made was about doing the most and being the best.
Then you did it, you committed to a college, and you thought: finally here’s the point where it all pays off–where I get to have fun again. But if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably felt a familiar anxiety creeping in: what’s everyone else doing? Will I be able to get a good job in the future? Am I doing enough? You worked tirelessly to make it here, only to be pushed into another cycle, constantly looking toward the future instead of enjoying the present.
You worked so hard to be here. Slow down, and relish it.
It’s easier said than done. College brings a whole new, much larger pool of people to compare yourself to, along with hundreds of extracurricular activities and clubs. You wonder what clubs other people are joining, am I in enough? Will these look good on my resume? Did I make the wrong choice?
So many of my peers dive headfirst into a million different clubs because that’s what they think they should be doing. Get as much experience as possible, and network as much as possible. This quantity-over-quality approach not only overwhelms your schedule but also diminishes the real significance of your extracurricular activities. Focus on what extracurriculars feel rewarding; they should be challenging, but not in a way that makes them feel like a chore. You spent so long doing activities in high school to look appealing to colleges, now that you’re here, do the things that genuinely make you feel happy and inspired.
It can be scary to do things just for the sake of your joy and interest when it feels like everything you’re doing is going to directly affect your future. In high school, it felt like every move you made affected your college application. Now in college, it feels like everything impacts your internships, grad school, or post-grad employment. But it’s important to live in the now. The things you pursue because you’re genuinely passionate about them will ultimately steer you onto a path for your future of longevity and authenticity. College is a better time than ever to try things out, take risks, and grow as a person, which you can only do if you slow down.
It can feel odd to have downtime after years of constantly working towards this moment. I made it. But what do I do now? What’s the next step? The next step is to live. Let yourself have lazy days. Recharge. Take a deep breath. Live in the moment. Do things because they fulfill your inwardness, not because they fulfill what you perceive others want or expect from you. After all the hard work you’ve done, you owe it to yourself to slow down enough to enjoy it.
I’ve already leaned into enough clichés, I’ll leave you with two of my favorite song lyrics that I return to whenever I find myself getting caught up in the future:
“Slow down, you’re doing fine
You can’t be everything you wanna be before your time.”
-Billy Joel, “Vienna”
“Life is what happens to you
While you’re busy making other plans.”
-John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy”
Slowing down and living for today is something I still struggle with at college, but reminding myself to take things one step at a time and to enjoy the little things in life helps ground me in gratitude for each day.
Slow down, you’re doing just fine!