11 Things That Lose Significance in College

American Contributor Student Contributor, American University

Lauren Staehle Student Contributor, American University

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at American chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

If you’ve ever caught yourself alone, unshowered, eating a bagel with extra cream cheese thinking “lol daaaang I’m so different than I was in high school,” it’s probably because you’re recognizing what’s important in life and acting accordingly. College is about prioritizing, and finishing research papers on time is only just below iced coffee, but just barely.

1. Showering

You ran out of soap. Your loofah unraveled. You can’t smell your own BO yet. You can smell your own BO but your bed has an iron grip. There are a million excusable reasons for skipping a shower. Justify it by putting on a clean* bra/pair of leggings/ratty track sweatshirt/[other article of clothing that tends to get re-worn and unwashed]. It’s fine. Really.

*see #2

2. Laundry

The rule for laundry goes from “you don’t have to wash your pants every time you wear them” to “you don’t have to wash anything as long as it doesn’t smell like body odor or beer.” As long as you have clean** underwear, you’re probably doing just fine.

**Actually clean

3. Your social media persona

My aunt knows that for every glamour shot, there is a picture from pre-pubscence reminding me of my style mistakes, and I’ve gotten way too lazy to untag myself every time one is uploaded. Which is, like, every #ThrowbackThursday.

4. Meal times/a balanced diet

Leftover Chinese food for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich for lunch (without jelly – it’s too expensive), and buttered pasta for dinner (sauce is also too expensive). There are carbs everywhere and it’s beautiful.

5. Actually going through with your plans

While in the past you were able to power through sober midnight glow bowling with your friends even though all you wanted to do was knit and watch Parks and Recreation alone in your bed, you’re no longer afraid to bail last minute. Your friends didn’t actually expect you to attend their Nicholas Sparks’ movie marathon in the lounge, did they?

6. Sparing someone’s feelings

High school:

“Hey I really like you do you maybe wanna like go to Billy’s house party with me this weekend while his parents are in the city visiting relatives I thought we could hang out there or something ha ha my older brother said he would drive us!!!”

College:

“Hey baby you looked great tonight and I’m glad we talked for five minutes before the president of the frat I’m pledging (did I mention I’m pledging a frat? – Okay, just making sure) made me clean up the vomit in the bathroom but let’s get together this week and talk about life over coffee.”

7. “Real” pants AKA jeans

According to my mother, leggings and sweats don’t count as real pants. (But shout out to my mom for being right about everything else. I forgive your naivety on this subject.) As far as I’m concerned, if it has a numerical size rather than S/M/L, there isn’t any room for it in my closet or my pathetic life.

8. Finding a boyfriend/girlfriend

If this was ever important in the past, you have come to realize that there is a huge difference between “legal adult” and “man.”

9. Love

10. Boys/girls in general

We made out once and I’m really not going to care if you don’t call me tomorrow. Actually, I’d really rather you didn’t. Can I see your phone so I can delete my number?

11. STD checks

JUST KIDDING THESE ARE STILL REALLY IMPORTANT

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