Upon coming to college, I was 17 years old. I was always the youngest in my grade, always called the baby of the group, etc. Now, being a senior, I get told how close I am to adulthood and the “big girl world”. Instead of checking my weather app or playing mundane apps on my phone when I’m bored, I find myself checking my emails and seeing if I paid down my credit card bill so that my credit score doesn’t get affected.Â
In four short years I have found that I have entered a phase of my life where I am not a kid anymore. How weird? How does one deal with this?
I find that the easiest way to understand this change is to realize that through the four years that we spend in college, we not only develop more as people through our actual physical growth but also through mental challenges. In these four years we all have experienced heartbreak, long nights, long talks with friends, extreme-belly laughs, terrible lows, and extreme highs. But that’s what college is all about, right?
Having to debate on what is going to happen in the real world is the scariest thing – finding a place to live after or if you want to move back home with your parents. My current struggle is knowing that I won’t live with my current roommates again after this last 10 month span that I have here in Chico.Â
The best advice that I can give on outgrowing your youth is simple, don’t. Hold on to the parts of your youth that you hold dear. Don’t be afraid to remain playful and weird in the ways that you once were as a kid. Watch the children’s movies that you love. Hang on to the nostalgia that brings you closer to your friends.
Having sleepovers with my friends is something that I have found helps me hold on to another important piece of my youth. Have a set time each week where you guys stay up and watch movies together in bed. It doesn’t matter if it used to include painting nails and now includes cracking open a bottle of wine. Allow this gradual change to take place while still keeping the major themes within it.Â
Another challenging part of outgrowing your youth is seeing the ways that your youth outgrows you in a way. Throughout college you start to see your childhood friends make new friends and find new connections. Obviously, strong connections will still stand and continue to grow and flourish, but seeing the difference in when you used to live down the street from each other versus living thousands of miles away is something to note.Â
It’s important to nurture these friendships so that you can hold on to the parts of your youth that still matter to you, like the friendships that helped form who you are as a person. I would be nothing without the roles that the people who I went to elementary school, middle school, and high school played in my life. They are the pillars that formed my current personality, while my college friends are the people who refined me into the person that I am today.
Holding onto small pieces of my youth, reminding myself of when I was young is important. Growing up can be scary but is also inevitable. However, I can confidently say those pieces made me into the person, and adult that I am today; ready for the “Big Girl World”.