Being a college student, I feel like I'm constantly being interrogated. "What's your major?" "What year are you?" "What do you plan to do after college?" One of the main things anyone asks me about college is, "what are you involved in?" and for the longest time, it made me extremely uncomfortable to respond with "well, I'm not" and the response? "Oh you just haven't found your place."
In high school, I was extremely involved. I was in band, was in several clubs and honor societies, and enjoyed my time, but when I got to college, it just wasn't as enjoyable.
Let me clarify: I have no issues with clubs, teams, greek organizations, etc. I've actually given all of these things a try. When I was a freshman, I took concert band for a year. Since then, I joined several clubs, I joined an intramural team, and even rushed a co-ed fraternity.
Everyone I met was extremely welcoming and I had a lot of fun participating in each of these organizations, but at the end of the day, I figured out that what people consider "getting involved" really just wasn't for me.
I found it extremely stressful to continually schedule my day around meetings, events, and doing any extra work that came with involvement. Of course, this may have been a time management issue or a commitment issue (and it probably was). I also didn't enjoy the stereotypes that came with any organization, and there literally was a stereotype for any and everything.
Unfortunately, for the few who are uninvolved, there's just as bad of a stereotype.
Those who are not involved are not lazy, they do have friends, and they have just as valuable of a college experience as those who are involved. They can and do have fun and are equally as academically and socially capable as those who are involved.
College is a time for people to explore and figure themselves out (or as much as they can in 4 years) and for some that's making friends through their respective organizations, and for others, it is not, and honestly, it's that simple.
I write this in hopes of those who are involved and for the parents/friends/literally anyone else who worries about those who aren't involved, understanding that those who aren't involved are not socially or physically incapable of anything- they just like doing their own thing and that's okay.
