College is the definition of “Fake it Till You Make it”
College is theater. Nobody has committed the script to memory, and everyone is acting. We improvise our way through the semester, acting as though we have everything figured out, between coffee-stained calendars and fake grins at 8 a.m. lectures. The reality? Style is something that most of us are just faking.
These are some of the things that each of us has been performing.
1. Time Management
Everyone swears by their Google Calendar, but half of us are just color-coding panic. The alarms, reminders and “productivity hacks” are really just props. We sprint from one deadline to the next, convinced that scheduling chaos makes it look organized.
2. Studying Efficiently
Flashcards, highlighters and well-marked notes are all signs of discipline. But every “study grind” post has a person reading the same line five times.
3. Budgeting
Every semester, we begin with a spreadsheet of our budget and conclude with a Venmo request. Just before getting a $7 coffee and claiming it was an investment in productivity, we make a commitment to save money this month.
4. Communication
Even though we claim to have developed the concept of “setting boundaries,” one uncomfortable text puts us into a tailspin. Clarity is less important in college communication than creative avoidance.
5. Self-Care
We commit to journaling, meditating and eventually reading that book every Sunday. We wind up doom-scrolling every Sunday and persuading ourselves that productivity comes from rest. Perhaps persuading oneself that doing nothing is profound is a form of contemporary self-care.
6. Confidence
There are a lot of self-assured people (or perhaps simply skilled performers) at college. We’re all hoping that nobody will notice the performance’s flaws behind the carefully controlled excitement and practiced introductions. Perhaps, however, confidence is actually dread masquerading as fluency.
The funny thing about acting is that it’s effective. After faking time management for a while, you begin to establish a routine. If you pretend to be confident long enough, you begin to believe it. The goal of college is to practice until the performance becomes authentic, not to have it all together. Perhaps “faking it” is rehearsal rather than dishonesty. And perhaps we’re not even pretending if we’re all practicing together.