SGA! Football games! Tailgating! Clubs galore! Events on any given day! Parties on any given night! When you go to a big university, there is always. ALWAYS. something going on. That's amazing.
But with so many ways to get involved, there are that many ways to feel like you aren't doing enough.
Last week, I was talking to a friend of mine who goes to a smaller school. We are both involved in Greek life, but my pledge class has 74 people, while his has 11. The past few weeks, I have met so many new people, but I haven't felt like I've found "my people," yet. I've made plenty of amazing friendships, but most of my efforts are widespread. I study with this person, I go to church with this person, I live with these people, and the list goes on. I'm getting closer to many people, but not finding my consistent go-to people. Because of the small pledge class of my friend, those are already his designated people. There are pros and cons to this. You know you will find your people eventually, but the time being feels like being a little fish in a big pond.
Comparison is the thief of joy. This has never become more clear to me until I suddenly had thousands of new people to compare myself to. Going on social media at any given time can make you feel like you're missing out on something. Even if your time physically won't allow for it, you feel as though you could be doing more. Social media can really make it seem like other people have found "their people," and maybe they have, but most of us haven't and that is completely normal.
It's like moving to a new school when you're a kid, except now, all of a sudden, there is this pressure to have already met your best friends, your people you will spend the rest of college with, and maybe the rest of your life with. But it's an unrealistic expectation to assume you're going to find your people within the first few weeks of college, even the first few months. Meaningful friendships don't happen overnight. The goal should be to stay open minded to friendships that may arise and hopeful for friendships to stick.
All of this being said, I would never want to be any other place than I am right now. Auburn University has had my heart since I was a little girl and it still does. This is just to say, you aren't alone. There are others in your situation right now. College is just a weird transitionary period into adulthood. We don't really know what we're doing yet and we have very unrealistic expectations of what life is supposed to look like. Like little fish in big ponds, we just have to keep swimming and adjust to new surroundings.
