My high school body is not the same as my college body
This is the hardest thing I’ve had to learn this year. Everyone knows about the freshman 15, but I never thought that weight gain would be a reality for me. In high school, I was abnormally conscientious about the way my body looked, so I figured there was no way I would let myself gain weight in college. Well. Here I am now in the last semester of freshman year and I have, in fact, gained weight. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that college is not the same as high school. I am no longer 16 with easy accessibility to a gym and healthy food. College demands a different lifestyle where I can’t cook for myself or spend all my free time working out and that’s okay. Our bodies will look different at different points in our lives and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Lots of friends isn’t the equivalent to great friendships
You will meet hundreds of people in your first year of college and that’s amazing. I made lots of friends this year in my classes, sorority, ect., but very few of these friendships actually go below surface level. I can honestly say I probably only have three friends that actually know me and I them. There’s nothing wrong with making as many friends as possible, but I’ve learned to not expect deep relationships from the majority of these friendships. Having a small close circle is totally fine and completely normal.
Time management is vital
In high school I tended to enroll myself in difficult classes like AP Calc and Research, so I learned time management long before college. However, the same cannot be said for everyone. Some people chose not to torture themselves in high school and took easier or simply normal classes. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to make your high school life enjoyable, but it’s most likely going to make the adjustment to college a little more difficult. Classes in college require lots of outside work, but no one is forcing you to do any of it. It’s also weird to go from classes for seven straight hours to having only around two or three classes a day. Schoolwork becomes more like a part-time than a full day then done deal.
You’ve got to get over your FOMO
There’s always something going on on campus, and I want to go to everything. The thing is, however, that going to every event is impossible. I got so worn out first semester with trying to keep up with every social outing that my schoolwork was falling behind and I became exhausted. I had to learn to come to terms with the idea of my friends sometimes doing things without me. Prioritize your responsibilities first.
You can’t compare your financial situation to your friends
Meeting hundreds of new people in college is amazing, but that also came with realizing that I have lots of different types of friends who have different lifestyles from me. Some of my friends have limitless money from their parents, some struggle financially, some have a steady income from working consistently, ect. This just means that not everyone can always afford to do the same things, and I’ve learned to be conscientious of that fact. I’ve also had to remind some of my friends that I sometimes can’t afford to do stuff they want to do. The good thing is there’s always something fun that accommodates everyone.
