Being a college student is so weird. One minute, I’m managing my own money, organizing my schedule, and making sure everything on my to-do list gets done. The next, I’m calling my mom over the smallest inconvenience because I still need her advice. College is such a strange time in life because we’re expected to be independent adults, yet sometimes we still feel like the kids we were before moving away from home.
One of the biggest things college has taught me is how much responsibility comes with being independent. Between keeping up with assignments, using my time to the fullest potential, and finding time for friends and myself, there is always something that needs to get done. Unlike when I was younger, I don’t have someone constantly reminding me of everything that I need to do. It was like the second I stepped onto campus I was knighted “queen of my independence.” And while this independence can be exciting, it can also be overwhelming. Some days, I feel like I have everything under control, and other days, I wonder how adults manage to do this all the time.
Despite all of my newfound freedom and independence, my first instinct when something goes wrong is still to call my mom. It doesn’t even have to be a major problem. Like when I had to call my doctor’s office and the nurse was giving me an attitude, the first person to hear about it was my mom (roughly ten seconds after talking with the nurse). Whether I’m looking for advice, reassurance, or just someone to listen to me complain, my mom or dad are usually the first people I turn to. It’s funny to think that I can handle an entire week of responsibilities on my own, but one minor inconvenience can make me feel like a little kid again. However, I’ve started to realize that needing my mom doesn’t take away from the independence that I’ve gained.
I think that’s what makes college such an interesting stage of life. We’re caught somewhere between the comfort of childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood. We’re making decisions about our futures, figuring out who we want to become, and learning how to navigate life on our own. At the same time, we’re still adjusting to the idea that we are growing up. There are moments when I feel completely capable of handling everything life throws at me, followed by moments when I wish someone else could just make decisions for me. It’s a strange balance between wanting to be independent and still want the comfort of knowing someone is there to help.
As college students, I think we sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves to have everything figured out. We feel like we should know exactly what we want to do after graduation, how to handle every situation, and what being an adult is supposed to look like. But the reality is, we’re still learning, and that’s part of the experience.
I feel like people a lot of the time look at college students in their sophomore and freshman year like they have it all figured out. But would they look at a high school senior and ask them their exact career path that they want to follow? I don’t think so. I mean a college freshman was a high school senior only a few months prior, and a sophomore was a high school senior only a year prior. It can be sort of comical because I think people often feel like there is some great awakening that happens the summer going into college, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Maybe college isn’t about suddenly becoming an adult who has all the answers. Maybe it’s about slowly learning how to take care of ourselves while still holding onto the people who have always been there for us. I may be getting better at managing my own life, but I don’t think I’ll stop calling my mom over the smallest bump in my day or week.