College is especially a time where people tend to feel lost. After all, it is a big transition, and suddenly being surrounded by new experiences and new people all day everyday can be overwhelming. It can take a whole semester, or even a year sometimes, to combat this lost feeling you may have transitioning into all the newness. This lost feeling can come from many places, whether you chose the wrong major, haven’t quite found your friend group, are missing your hometown and family a great deal, are uncertain about your future career, or are not doing as well as you would like to in school, pushing through the obstacle may seem impossible. However, once you push through all this and finally get to where you’re supposed to be, things seem a lot easier.
My first semester experience was riddled with failures and confusion. I constantly felt lost and out of place and began to question myself and whether I chose the right school. When coming to college, I expected my college experience to be more like how it’s portrayed in movies and TV shows where everyone and their huge group of friends are all hanging out together in dorm rooms and having a great time. However, this was not the case at all. I didn’t know anyone prior to coming to school, so I didn’t have anyone to lean on that I felt comfortable with. I didn’t have a huge group of friends I spent all my time with, in fact, I had no friends at all. To make things worse, the major and academic track I chose were not right for me at all, and because of this I was doing poorly in school for the first time ever in my life. I was lost and miserable. Nothing in my life was going how I had planned it out to be, and that made things even more stressful. I considered dropping out altogether, but I knew that this would not solve any of my problems; it was just my attempt to run away from them because I was uncomfortable. Instead, I pinpointed the things in my life that were giving me these feelings of loss and hopelessness and set out to turn them around. I changed my major so that I could take classes more suited for me and what I knew I could succeed at for the next semester. Also, I planned on working with my professors to get my grades up so that I could be in a better academic standing than I was in the current semester. Finally, I sought out clubs and organizations that I knew I would enjoy, and that would help me make friends who shared similar interests. Life wasn’t perfect after all of this and I didn’t magically stop feeling lost, although I did make great friends and get my grades up, but all these things definitely helped me to find myself a little more than I had, and I am currently happy with all those decisions I made to turn my situation around.
While there are other ways people can feel lost or uncertain, I hope my story can at least help a few people see that it is necessary and okay to feel out of place sometimes to find what is truly right for you. Whether you are uncertain about school, your social life, or even your career, try not to sweat it too much. This lost feeling is stressful, but with the correct problem-solving skills, state of mind, and support, this feeling can go away altogether, and your goals can be accomplished.