With the fall semester of my senior year coming to an end (actually sobbing and throwing up currently), I am beginning to realize just how much in my life has changed… and for the better! There is so much I wish I could tell freshman-year Danica, but since I can’t do that I’m just going to tell all of you and hope that maybe it saves someone out there a little stress down the line.
- You Do not Have to have your whole life planned out!
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I can’t even count on my fingers the number of times I’ve told someone “I think I know what I want to do with my life” and then changed my mind within the next four months. I used to stress over every single detail of my life plan, feeling like I needed to know the exact career I wanted to do, where I wanted to receive my graduate degree, and when I would start. I would stress myself out over and over again, hung up on minuscule details trying to convince myself that I knew what I wanted to do when I just wanted to feel secure in my decisions. It took some time and mental rewiring, but I can confidently say that as a senior I now have a real idea of what I truly want to do with my life and where I am going. Through taking various classes, trying different jobs, and meeting people with similar interests, I promise the things you love with speak to you eventually!
- It’s okay switch you major and multiples times if you need to!
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Now I say this with absolutely no shame whatsoever, but I quite literally switched majors before classes even started my freshman year. I’m a very indecisive person (annoying, I know. I promise I am actively working on it in therapy lol) and the August before I began my educational career here I decided that I didn’t want to be a public health major, but rather wanted to try business. So by the grace of God, some nice advisor responded to my email, enrolled me into Isenberg before the semester began, and I started classes as a business major. About four weeks into the semester I quickly realized I am not a business girl (all the power to those who are, I love you guys. I just cannot do economics for the life of me) and decided once again to make a switch. For the third and final time, I switched my major and landed on psychology. I have felt at home ever since and have never once regretted the journey I took to get here.
- You will make friends!
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I can still remember crying on the phone to my mom the first week of school because my roommate and I hadn’t made any other friends yet. Being in such unmarked territory and feeling alone was hard on my mental state and didn’t make me feel very hopeful for what was to come. However, my roommate and I kept a positive mindset and a few days later we met the girls who would end up sticking with us throughout the rest of college.
- Stop worrying about the boys
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Oh my god, if there’s one thing I wish I could change about the four years that I have been at UMass it is how much I cared about what boys thought of me. As unfortunate as it sounds, I spent way too many nights crying, stressing, and losing sleep over different boys I wished would care about me. Now that I’m a senior I’ve realized that all those unreciprocated feelings had nothing to do with me and that my time would come to be happy. Words can’t express how happy I am that things didn’t end up the way I wanted freshman, sophomore, or junior year because now I’m out of the closet and know exactly what my worth is. The right people come to us and don’t make us question our value in the process.
- Don’t Rush it
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It is all going to go by in the blink of an eye so cherish it. Hold this time so near and dear to your heart that you don’t even have time to think about what’s to come. Soak up living with your best friends and going out on the weekends. Have sleepovers as often as you can, eat good food with the people you love, dance in the rain, and take that last-minute trip. You’ll have time to rest when you’re old, but for now, the graduation clock is ticking and there’s still fun to be had.
Take a second to think about what your future self would want you to remember, to feel, and to believe. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and trust in the process of becoming who you are. You’ll be just fine, I promise!
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