As a college student you may find yourself feeling like you have to pretend everything is always fine, when in fact you may feel like your world is falling apart. The truth is college is not picture perfect like you see on TV and in movies. College is very hard and very mentally taxing no matter who you are. Oftentimes, you may find yourself needing to suppress your true feelings because you want to appear like you are having the “perfect” college experience. We all want to have that perfect Instagram feed that makes it seem like we are thriving. We all want to post that Snapchat story that looks like we are having the time of our lives. That is not reality. Why do we feel the need to isolate ourselves in our own struggles? Why do we feel like it’s taboo to talk about mental health in college?
As a senior in college I have learned that not everyone is going to have the ideal college experience. Not everyone is going to make hundreds of friends. Not everyone is going to go to parties. Not everyone is going to excel academically. Not everyone is going to be super involved in extracurriculars. Not everyone is going to have the same experience. It is okay. It’s okay to struggle in college. It’s okay to not have the perfect college experience you may have always dreamed about having.
I think it’s important that we work to eliminate the stereotypes that college needs to be perfect all the time. Often we make light of the struggles we are facing as college students. We like to make jokes about how horrible we may be feeling. But, why don’t we actually discuss what’s really going on?
In reality, college and higher academia in general can be extremely overwhelming no matter who we are. You are going to have nights where you can’t help but cry. You are not going to get A’s on every assignment you submit or every exam. You are going to have mental breakdowns. You are going to feel so overwhelmed you don’t even know what to do. It’s okay to not be okay in college. It’s okay to admit that you’re struggling and things are hard. I can guarantee you that girl in your organic chemistry class who has her planner color coded and got a 94 on her exam cried while studying, or still feels like she may have no idea what’s going on sometimes. The people you idolize in your mind are most likely going through exactly what you are going through.
No one in college has everything together. No one in college understands everything that is being talked about in class. No one has the perfect life outside of college. No one knows what they are doing 100% of the time. Every single one of your peers has struggles too. It is okay to fall apart sometimes and feel like you want to give up. It’s okay to feel so overwhelmed that you don’t even know where to begin. It is okay to talk about how you’re feeling. All in all, college is not picture perfect. There will be times you may question why you’re in college in the first place or what you even want to do with your life. Give yourself credit for making it as far as you have. Take a deep breath. Get some help if you need it. Don’t struggle in silence. At the end of the day, you will survive even if you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel right now. Not everyday will feel like you’re drowning. And always remember, it’s okay to not be okay.