As the final semester of my freshman year is coming to close, I have decided to put together a list of lessons I have learned throughout the year. These lessons have changed my perspective on certain things and I hope these lessons will also help you in the future.
1. Don’t be afraid to be who you are
College is the time of your life to let go and meet new people. I know when I was in high school, I felt like I was someone new every day. I wanted to fit in with whoever my friends were at the time. Until college, I didn’t know what it was like to really be yourself in a school setting. However, once I came to college everyone was very excepting, and it’s a lot easier to find someone who thinks and acts the same way as you. I have already found some of my best friends in this short amount of time here. I don’t feel like I must impress them, rather I can act my goofy self and they will do the same back.
2. You have no one to impress but yourself
Going along with the last one, you don’t need to be someone else to fit in. In high school I would dress up and wear makeup just to impress others and feel somewhat confident. Yes, I mean its nice to dress up occasionally but embrace your inner messy bun and baggy sweatpants personality because trust me, you’ll be needing many of those “lazy” days. Also, don’t compare yourself to other people too. There will always be someone stronger, faster, smarter, or whatever it may be. But, that doesn’t mean that you are not. You should not compare yourself to the traits of others, you need to work on yourself and make yourself happy.
3. Athletics are much different in college than in high school
In high school, our coaches would tell us exactly what to do every single day at practice, and never really expected us to do anything else after the workout. However, in college many of the coaches expect us to do work outside of the workout itself. The competition levels are much higher in college than they ever were in high school. But, I mean that’s a given for me considering I came from a tiny high school! College athletics make you work harder and want to get better as every day passes.
4. Things don’t come as easy as you think that they will; you really need to work hard
I thought going into college that I was not going to have to try any harder to get the grades that I wanted. In high school, I was lucky and never really had to study for tests or quizzes. The class material just would come easy to me. However, when I got to college I was in for a rude awakening. I did not get the grades that I wanted to, and I noticed that by the middle of the first semester. By that point it was hard to bring up some of the grades that had fallen to Bs. You might be thinking that B is not bad at all, but for me that was not something that I had been used. I learned my lesson after the first semester and decided to implement new study routines and time management skills in order to get the desired grades that I wanted.
5. Time still flies by
It seems like just yesterday it was orientation weekend and I was meeting the friends I would have for a lifetime. Now, its finals week and everyone is packing up and getting ready to go home. With all the breaks and amount of work that is given in college, it’s no wonder it seems like there’s never any time and that it goes by so fast. Just as I would say to the upcoming seniors in high school, anyone in college should know that time flies by faster than you think. You should enjoy every second of your college experience. Make new friends, get the grades you need, try something new, and just make memories that will last a lifetime.
Those are just a few of the things that I have learned from my freshman year, and I hope you can use going into your freshman year or wherever in your education you may be!