I am currently a senior at Keene State, and over my past four years here, I have encountered some situations and luckily, I have been able to learn a lot about college, life and what it means to become an adult. Some of it is kind of stupid or weird but I think there is a lot of value to most of it.
My freshmen year taught me not to hang out with boys who will use you to get into house parties, and especially when he leaves you at the party after finding a girl he likes. This really made me more cynical throughout my years, but in the long run, it helped me to find people who I can really trust.
Especially during your first year, it can be hard to find people, but I promise it gets easier. I have found that going to involvement fairs, recruitment events or even just asking to sit with people you think would be cool at dinner helps a lot.
I also learned to call it quits on your high school relationships and any drama that came with it. I promise something better will come along. It is okay to free yourself from people who do not value you, and that I was able to carry with me.
In my sophomore year, I learned that if the world comes to a halt, then maybe that is a sign.
I was signed up for everything my sophomore year, I took too many classes and was in a bad situation in every way possible. I slowly started to learn that the people I trusted did not like me back and I was so stuck on having this perfect college experience, all for that ideology to come to an end as COVID began and everything shut down. I only then realized that it was okay to say no to things and that burnout is a real thing. I did not even realize how horrible my burnout was until everything I had to do and all my responsibilities stopped.
Please, if you take anything away from reading this, say ‘no’ if you need to. And when you do say ‘no’, you do not owe anyone an explanation of why.
Junior year I was able to learn that some people just suck.
I had fake friends and all they ever wanted from me was to validate them and their thoughts, beliefs and likes, and I did not matter to them. I will not dive too deep into it, but if you talk bad about yourself in front of your only true friend, they are most definitely also talking bad about you behind your back too. If this taught me anything, it was that you cannot change some people and that not everyone will like you either. Even if you spent almost three years thinking they were the best thing you ever had. Life changes and that is a good thing. Sometimes, that requires you to cut ties with toxic people. I really affirmed my advice and thoughts from earlier that it is okay to free yourself from people who do not value you.
Three weeks into my senior year and I am still learning.
So far I have learned two things. One is that you are not as behind in life as you think you are. It is okay to not know what you want to do yet, especially considering that the average person has about 12 different careers in their life. As I look into master’s programs and future living situations and everything that comes with graduating, I have learned slowly that I am right where I should be, which is a good thing. And the second thing is to watch where you walk, and that it hurts so bad to fall into an open manhole.
If I could sum up all my advice into one it would be that you should just enjoy the ride. Thinking about all the things I learned and did, and everyone who I have met and loved and learned from, I am both grateful for everything I have accomplished but also saddened that I did not recognize these lessons I have learned sooner.
