These are the years that little us have looked forward to, and as kids, we often felt like they were light-years away. But now, it’s finally here. But you feel scared. Alone. Everything is happening so fast. Assignments due at 11:59, papers to write, textbooks to read, laundry, parties. Then you realize this isn’t what you wanted. You realistically didn’t want to grow up so fast. You just turned 18. You have to decide on what you wanna do for the rest of your life, and god forbid you get it wrong or fail. Your parents spent a lot of money for you to be here. You should be grateful. The guilt builds up and all you wanna do is crawl into your childhood bed and hope that this was just a nightmare, and when you wake up you’ll be 10 years old again.
But hold on. Yes, you’re an adult now, but that doesn’t mean you have to be completely burnt out. It doesn’t mean everything is going to be bad, and it doesn’t mean you have to have everything figured out right away. You still have time to make mistakes, to learn, and to grow. You have freedom. You have choices. You have new people to meet, new experiences waiting for you and time to take a break when you need one. Growing up doesn’t mean you have to stop being yourself. You’re allowed to slow down, to have fun, to make mistakes and to enjoy this chapter of your life, too.
Be excited for the first college party, the late-night food runs, the basketball games, the music playing from an open dorm room and the feeling of coming home to a place after a long day and it’s all yours. Be excited for the mistakes too, because some of them will become memories. And maybe somewhere along the way, you’ll fall in love. Maybe it’ll happen when you least expect it, meeting a lot of new people as a freshman is inevitable. But maybe that one person will slowly become your favorite person. Maybe it will last forever,or maybe it won’t, it’s college.Go out of your comfort zone and experience everything while you can because you saw how fast high school went. College isn’t just about finding your career or determining your future, it’s also about meeting new people who make you laugh until your stomach hurts, trying new things, getting over fears.