We tend to get these visions of exactly how our lives will play out, especially as college students who are constantly thinking about their futures. Whether it’s when we meet the person we are going to marry, how our first college roommate is going to be our best friend for eternity or what kind of phone call we are going to get after a job interview, we decide on how we want a certain part of our life to play out and that’s the end – that is what must and will happen.
However, as the wise Rolling Stones once said, “you can’t always get what you want,” and as college students there is no lesson we seem to learn more often than this. We can’t predict the future. It can be hard to remember when you are constantly asked about your future. The unpredictability of life is inevitable and can seem overwhelming at times, but there are some ways to find the positivity in it. Here’s how to make the most of your life in college.
One of the most important relationships you will ever have is the one with yourself. Knowing who you are and what you value will making adapting to unexpected situations far easier. You will already know how you want to handle these experiences and what you want out of them. If you take each experience for what it is regardless of how positive or negative it may initially seem, you’ll begin to take something away from anything and everything you may go through. You need to make the most of your life in college.
You might meet someone who you believe is truly perfect in every way and then you realize they don’t support late night Chipotle runs. Or maybe you spend a year in a relationship with someone just to discover they don’t have the same views as you on loyalty and commitment and suddenly they are a stranger to you. The easiness it takes for people to come in and out of our lives so quickly can seem frightening, but there is an upside. It means you never know who you might meet.
It’s hard to watch a relationship with someone, whether it be a significant other or a close friend, change and fade, but it’s important to remember how wonderful it can be to watch a new relationship form and grow. Instead of fearing the idea of people leaving, focus on appreciating the people in your life now, and the people who have yet to come; if you don’t you’re not making the most of your life in college. When it is time to let someone go, it’s okay to be sad, but also be grateful for the time you had with them. They may not be permanently in your life, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take away something from your experience with them that will stick with you forever.
Time to do some stretches (or maybe some yoga?). In all aspects of life, it’s so important to be as flexible as possible. We all know that this world can throw some major curve-balls. This unpredictability can make us feel incredibly stressed and worried. If it wasn’t for the random nature of life, we wouldn’t be given unusual opportunities.
Maybe you’ve made plans with a group of people you don’t know and the one friend you know bailed. Adjusting to unexpected outcomes is easier said than done. Going with the flow and approaching these kinds of situations with an open attitude could lead to new exciting discoveries.
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