College is hard. Without a doubt, college classes are hard, but what's harder is doing college right.

If you come to college and just go to class, that's great! You will graduate with honors and probably land some pretty awesome job. But did you really do college right? Did those thousands and thousands of dollars go to waste? College is about exploring. it is about exploring who you could be and how others behave as well. College is not just about partying, but there are some things you can't learn in the library or from a book. Sometimes to gain some knowledge you have to step out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to be in a not-so-ideal situation. Doing college right is about being involved, making new friends, expanding your mind outside of the classroom and finding yourself, while also getting that degree and honestly, partying a little bit, or a lot.

For some, this could be hard. Even those who love to party and experience new things can have trouble balancing being responsible and being crazy. Doing everything, while also remaining healthy in mind and body, can really seem like an impossible task.

For anyone who doesn't know, to graduate "on time" you might have at least five classes each semester and these classes range from English 101 to anatomy with labs to internships and practicums. To get a good job upon graduation, you need to be involved not only in clubs that have to do with your major but other organizations to show how "diverse" and "experienced" you are. To afford being a student, you might have to work somewhere around 20-30 hours a week so you can be in a little less debt when you graduate. To stay sane, you have to go out on the weekends or at least find time to socialize. And finally to remain healthy, you're supposed to eat three good meals a day and get eight hours of sleep, but that's just a suggestion... Isn't it? If you think all of that sounds possible, you are so wrong.

We can't do it all, so we end up running on four hours of sleep over three days and shoving Taco Bell down our throats for the third time in a week. My exercise? I get that in sprinting back and forth from class to my on-campus job. Just try to find a time to take even a 10-minute nap, it's impossible. And people wonder why college kids are so stressed out. Maybe this is the "right" way to do college according to the adults in our lives, but believe me, it's not. I was stressed out, in no means OK. Don't get me wrong, I loved every second I have been at college, but I have experienced levels of stress I didn't even know existed. The worst part of it all? I wasn't doing college right.

I had the clubs thing down; I am involved in multiple clubs on campus involving and not involving my major. I had the job thing down; I work 20 hours a week on campus. I kinda sorta had the class thing down; I had five classes, and most of the time was doing well in them, but a week without pulling an all-nighter or having a breakdown was a rarity. I was missing something.

I had amazing friends who would gladly stay in for the night with me and watch a movie, but I never went out to a party. My never is not a "I only went out once or twice a week" kinda deal. I'm talking once or twice a month, and I never really regretted that, until this semester.

As a second semester junior, I feel like finally learned how to do college. I forced myself to stop stressing over classes, and homework, and clubs, and work, and everything else in my life and learned to have fun. I didn't start going out every night and I didn't become a drunk, but I stopped freaking out. I stopped stressing over things I couldn't change. I started choosing my friends over homework (to an extent of course). I started choosing sleep over studying for an exam. I started choosing fun over picking up an extra shift. And I have never been happier.

I was never unhappy, but that's only because I didn't truly know what happiness felt like. I didn't know that going out on the weekends would bring me to some of my best friends. I didn't know that sleeping an extra hour or two would make me more alert in class even if I did do a little worse on the exam. I didn't know that making my own meals instead of eating fast food would make me feel so much better. I didn't know that choosing myself and my needs over the needs of my professors and bosses would make me better. I didn't know this until now, and I wish I had known it earlier.

So there's a moral to this story and it's about doing life in a way that makes you happy. Do you and do college the right way. We are not here to be stressed, we are here to learn. Be whoever you want to be and live your life in college because it's honestly the last chance you have to do that. Talk to people you never thought you would be friends with; they could change your life. Go to a baseball game on the weekend and cheer on people you don't know. It's more fun than it sounds. Go out on a Wednesday night when you have a speech the next morning. You'll make some crazy memories. Make your friends dinner on a Thursday night; you'll learn that you can be an adult sometimes.

Don't freak out over exams and classes. You can always retake them, but you can't retake your life. Don't force yourself to work more hours; you can always take out loans. Don't always say yes to everyone else; you need time to say yes to yourself. Trust me, a few extra bucks to pay back to the bank is worth the stress-free life.

And I know that you're probably thinking "but I need to graduate on time and work and do all this stuff to make my parents happy," but you don't. You are No. 1 priority, and if you are happy, your parents will see that (I love you, mommy and daddy. Thanks for supporting me).

So, take a step back, choose you and do college right. Soon enough, you'll find yourself happier than you ever thought you could be. You've only got four years. Do them right, and you'll be happy the rest of your life.