You go into college thinking you know yourself. You think that you have experienced every single obstacle imaginable—so you go in with a closed mind, one that is not open to learning new things beyond your academics. From someone who is only a sophomore in college, take it from me. You will learn so much more about yourself beyond just how academically intelligent you are. Most importantly, you are going to find yourself, especially if you have no idea who you are now.
In your teenage years, so many people will come and go in your life. These people, each and every one of them, will impact your life for the better or for the worse. Through all of these ups and downs, it is difficult for a teenager, especially a teenage girl, to find herself. So, we go into college thinking we are worth something; maybe we think our worth means nothing to people. Maybe we think we aren’t worthy of being loved. Maybe we think we aren’t worthy of having quality friends. Maybe we think we aren’t worthy of being treated well. These ideas of worthiness are solely based on people from your past putting that idea in your head.
Now, in college, you learn to find yourself. You learn that those people you thought would be with you for forever no longer associate themselves with you. You learn that family is everything. You learn that your friends will be there for you in every up and in every down, and if they aren’t, they are not worth your time. You learn that getting rid of someone in your life that you know is toxic is the best thing that will ever happen to you. You learn who you are. You find yourself.
When you find yourself, you realize your worth, which is one of the most important things you could ever do. From experience, I know that it is hard to make these realizations, but if you don’t, you are going to go down such an unhealthy path in your life. So, learn about you. Learn that you should never settle for anything less than what you deserve. Learn who your friends are, and make every moment with them last as long as possible. Learn to take a risk every once in a while—you never know what the outcome will be. Learn to be you, even if it is something out of the ordinary. Everything you learn in college is going to impact your life, so make every moment count. And, don’t ever forget the one goal you should always have: find yourself.