Like the old girl scout song goes, make new friends but keep the old. When you hit college you are surrounded by all of these new people, all of these new things and all of these new ideas, and to be honest it scares me almost every day. I mean what if I make the wrong decision, pick the wrong major, do the wrong thing and it haunts me forever! I mean everyone says today is the day, or people stress the importance of college, and honestly all of this stuff just freaks me out so much! I stress and worry, and I weigh every decision until I have over thought it so much that it causes me to change my mind about 20 times.
So here it is, step back, it is just college and you will make it through it. Step back and relax, take some time for yourself and do what you want to do. Go for a walk, for a jog, take a break and watch TV or play a game. Go hang out with friends or with family if you want, or even just call an old friend and catch up.
So yeah, this is college, its important and it will help to shape your future, but don’t let it take over, don’t let it take control and drag you down into a place that you no longer recognize yourself. Don’t let your college experience shape you, shape your college experience and take hold of what it is you want to do.
Also, understand that a lot of people are in the same boat as you, and I mean a lot. Don’t let people full, most of the time no one knows what they are doing, many of us are just flying by the seat of our pants and hoping that we don’t mess anything up to badly. People are rarely one hundred percent sure of anything really. So its okay to be on the fence about it all, and its even okay to be nervous about the fact that you are still on the fence. We are all human, we do not know what is coming next, we are all just guessing and then letting the world take us where it wants.
So just chill out it will all be okay, its going to work its self out. So what if you want to switch your major, do it! So what if you think you just failed a test, we have all been there! So what if you are overloaded with homework and you are not sure you will ever make it through, you will find a way! There is an end to every tunnel, eventually you are going to come out the other side, just make sure that when you get to that other side you still like yourself.
As my final piece of advice to you all, for my final “do” while you are in college, its keep calm and keep moving, because you are bound to get through the dark times and to the other side of that tunnel.
I completely agree with this, it’s something that I’ve actually learned over my time here and has helped me so much because I always used to be one to stress about every little thing and be convinced that it was the worst thing that could happen and I would never succeed. College has taught me that you can have fun and do well in school at the same time as long as you keep your priorities, and that as long as you do everything with good intentions and keep your wits about you, everything usually works out.
This is a great piece of final advice. Especially with finals week quickly approaching. It’s crazy that we’re almost done with freshmen year. It’s kind of scary how fast time passes by and you don’t even realize it. Like you said, you just have to keep calm and keep going.
This is so great. It is probably one of my favorite blogs that you have written. I think everybody feels this pressure. I like how you said that nobody is really 100 percent sure about anything, and that it is okay. Sometimes it is hard to get ourselves to believe that everything really will be ok, but it will. “If we continue to worry about our future, we will be worrying for the rest of our lives.”
I agree that we need time to pause and remind ourselves that college is not the end of our life. Grades are important, but not as important as yourself. Also, there is more things coming up after college.
I completely agree. If you find time to just chill out at college you will do better in your classes. Trust me, I chill a ton and I do relatively well. Just keep plugging away and before we know it, we will be graduating!
Keep calm and.. study on! This is all true though, sometimes the stress keeps us from living our lives like we want to! People always say that “party students” have messed up priorities, and I mostly agree, but if you spend all day stressing in your dorm room, your priorities are likewise messed up
Aww, Mary this is great, and very true. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to sit back and think to myself that this is just school, and in the end my life will be shaped by my experiences before college and will be shaped by the ones that come after college. College isn’t everything, but it’s what you make of it, and that’s the important part. I’m proud of you for getting through 1/5 (:P AE majors) of college!