Growing up and learning to "adult" is hard, especially if you are trying to find out who you are.
There are so many things you have to learn how to do that mom and dad would just take care of. Even if you did everything yourself, you probably didn't have time to figure yourself out in the process.
When you do "big boy/girl" things in high school, it's more like, "Yay you did it! Now go take a nap or buy a treat, you deserve it." Even though we feel the same today when we adult, the rewards might be more like, "Yay, now go to work so you can eat tonight as a reward."
Figuring out how to succeed or make it through the hard days of life are the worst. But the worst feeling is when those days match up with your significant other's hard days or even their good days.
This isn't easy regardless of who you are or your age. But doing this as a freshman in college while trying to figure out who I was and what I even wanted to do anymore made it even harder.
I always reflect on freshman year. It's a huge growing year as a person and in general, which is why I now understand why they say to try not to take anything with you that could hold you back with you to college.
Throughout freshman year, I thought I was going to fail out of school and miss all the goals I had set for myself.
I already was lucky enough to have the freshman 15 on my sides (literally). I felt like the person I had become in the eight months I was there was the worst version of me.
Sophomore year was a growing year for me in every aspect and more importantly, in areas I didn't know that needed to grow.
Growing isn't easy. There are many bad days or days you're sad for no reason at all. This probably would have been easier if I didn't have someone by my side.
Regardless of who you are, it isn't an easy task to be always happy for your partner when you feel like you got kicked down all day every time you tried to do something good.
But this was one of the best things I had while getting kicked down.
Being able to come home after a long day and have someone who loved and only wanted the best for me encouraged me to get through the next day and strive to be better.
This only carried on throughout the year of growth for both of us. It worked on good days and even during the times when the bad days fell on the same days. We found ways to support and encourage each other through it.
These bad days also showed me I couldn't imagine going through them with anyone else. After all this, it wasn't just another boyfriend that you taught you something, it was a process where we learned together and are only better as a result of it.
It may not work for everyone but it definitely worked out for me and my boyfriend. It also turned my boyfriend into my best friend and the person by my side for everything imaginable.
