In a few months, my time as a college student will end, and I will move onto the next stage of my life, wherever that will be. Looking back, I have a few regrets—things I’ve done that certainly made some periods in college pretty sour.
Although I love who I am and where I am now, a part of me still wishes that following three things didn’t happen:
1. I regret sleeping so little.
I hardly remember my sophomore year of college. The likely cause: I slept an average of four hours on weekdays and a maximum of 13 hours on weekends.
All I remember was an ill feeling I had as I walked on campus—a feeling like my insides were decaying.
My short-term memory and attention span still feel the repercussions of that awful period of my life. So, I try to avoid late/all-nighters. Although I sometimes must commit to a late-nighter to meet a deadline, I at least do my best to prevent causing serious damage to myself from sleep deprivation.
2. I regret drinking so much coffee.
Coffee was probably a big reason why I stayed up late for many nights. But, that’s only partly why I regret drinking so much coffee.
The bottom-line: Drinking a lot of coffee enabled many bad habits of mine. It enabled my habits of:
- Doing homework last minute because I could just drink a cup of espresso and do the work late at night
- Artificially replacing the lack of energy throughout my day
- And spending so much money on this thing that was hurting more than it was helping.
I’m a tea-drinker nowadays primarily because it’s harder to wreck myself with it than coffee.
3. I regret not being okay single.
I was single for my entire K-12 experience (yes, that means no kindergarten girlfriends. How sad).
I remember a point where I was visibly sad about never having a girlfriend before. My dad approached me and said that things will change in college. While my dad may have given my well-intentioned assurance, his words at the time perpetuated my belief that I needed to be in a relationship to be happy.
A few shortly-lived relationships and some time to think about it later, I realized my dad was right. Things did change in college because:
- I met friends that I consider as family.
- I developed passions that made life fulfilling.
- I became satisfied with myself
I gained other sustainable sources of happiness that overshadowed my need for a romantic relationship.
My final words.
But regrets don’t have to be entirely bad. At the very least, regrets teach us what not to repeat in our lives. From my regrets, I know to never take my well-being for granted ever again. What have you learned?
