The best years of our lives – that’s what we’re told college is supposed to be.
The movies romanticize this misconception. Stories from our elders solidify it. Our four, or more, years spent on a college campus are supposed to be the peak of our existence.
This imagining of college is like a glorified version of summer camp.
It’s the first time in our lives that we have the freedom to choose things for ourselves. There are no bells alerting the beginning and end of classes. There are no morning announcements or a school secretary taking attendance, requiring a certain protocol to be followed when arriving late or leaving early. For the most part, we are free from our parents’ rules and curfews, living not with our family who varies in ages, but with our peers who exist in the same stage of life that we are.
As we continue our college journeys, many of us realize that the movies were wrong and the stories we were told aren’t appearing in our own lives. The honeymoon period we feel during our freshman year ends and we’re hit with a harsher reality of college life.
Our course loads get heavier, and the list of assignments never ends. Time moves faster and there never seems to be enough of it. We’re broke, sleep deprived and doing our best to follow the path laid before us.
We’re supposed to make good grades, make life-long friends, meet the love of our lives, maintain a full social calendar, network, find an internship and have a plan for our future; all while exercising, eating right, sleeping the proper amount and taking care of ourselves. How are these the best years?
In retrospect, our four, or more, years in college are the years that we have the least amount of responsibility. They’re the years we begin to discover ourselves, either through the friends we surround ourselves with or the time we spend in solitude.
For some, this time may be defined as their best years, as their peak, but it’s okay if you didn’t peak in college. There’s still so much life ahead of you.
The world is a playground, explore it. There are so many people who will be important to you, and you haven’t even met them yet. Your future family hasn’t been created and you haven’t met all the people you will love.
If your college experience hasn’t measured up to your expectations, that’s OK. At the end of the day, we’re all here to receive an education and get a diploma.
Go to your classes. Be nicer to yourself. And know that there is more to come after your years as a college student.
Lauren Madden is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Mandeville.
