It’s sort of hard to believe that my freshman year of college is almost over. I’m 1/4 of the way through college. It’s a scary thought, but looking back on the year, I wouldn’t change a thing. Here are five things I’ve learned:
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College isn’t easy…but it isn’t hard. College is a lot of fun, but college is also a lot of work. Sometimes you’ll have one class a day and no homework, and that’ll be an easy day. Sometimes you’ll feel so overwhelmed with work and classes; that’s a hard day. Like life, college is a mixed bag.
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Self care is important. Seriously. If you don’t practice self care, you won’t get through. Sometimes you need a “me” day where you do what you like and forget about responsibilities. Sometimes you need to remind yourself that eating junk food is ok every once in a while (or once a day!). Whatever it is that makes you feel happy, make sure to keep doing it.
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You can’t have it all…but you can have most of it and that’s kind of the same thing. You know the old saying where you can have two out of three of the following: sleep, good grades, and a social life? Well, it’s true in some ways, but I’ve found that you can have a little of each in proportions. You may be able to pick two: be completely well rested, have a perfect GPA, and be the life of the party, but you can have a decent night’s sleep, fairly good grades, and a good group of friends who share your interests all at the same time. College is about compromise, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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College is also about choices. With unprecedented freedom for most of us, college offers us an array of choices that we’ve never encountered before. We have a massive amount of control over our academic and social lives. This allows us to make choices, which is a great thing. But sometimes those choices are hard and there’s not always an adult to turn to for guidance. So we make our own decisions and we learn from them, sometimes the hard way.
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Be Yourself. By far, this is the most important thing I’ve learned in college, even though it sounds super cliche. But, honestly, if you’re not yourself, you won’t enjoy college. College has turned out to be a pretty accepting place and with so many people, you’re bound to find friends who share your interests and lifestyle, and those will be your friends for a long time.
Photo source: https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/deakinlife/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2015/…