Yesterday I was driving back from classes when Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me” came on the radio. The A/C was blowing on my face and the sun was shining through my car just right, and I’m not going to lie, I cracked the biggest smile. Instantly, I was taken back to simpler times. A different state. Middle school. Childhood best friends. You can say what you want about T-Swift but I’ll always be a fan. Anyway, my heart felt pretty happy. Then my mind started racing through the rest of my life until now, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of longing and a tinge of sadness. Maybe it’s just me, but I think sometimes we get homesick for a certain time in our lives—for a person we used to be and the younger versions of people we love. Nostalgia is honestly such a bitch.
I used to have such a hard time letting go, moving forward, and accepting not only that things would be different but that they should be different. It’s easy to cling to the past because it’s familiar. There’s a reason we run back to our ex when the new boy doesn’t work out. There’s a reason you can’t delete those pictures on your phone. It can be hard to let go of the high school volleyball or basketball games or the cheer camps. The proms and the homecomings. The friendships that, if you’re being completely honest with yourself, you’ve outgrown. You see yourself in a certain way for so long and then sometimes you wake up and realize you’re not that person anymore. That can be terrifying, but so liberating. College is a time to fully step into who you are as a person – to figure out what it is you love and are chasing after, without worrying about fitting into any specific mold. Please don’t stress about what major you’ll chose or “what you want to be when you grow up,” because I promise if you take the time to do the things you love, you’ll just know. Stop worrying about the endless questions your relatives will have for you when you go home for breaks. Finding yourself can take some time, but I know you’ll get there.