As a college sophomore going into my junior year, I have had many experiences throughout my college career that has shaped me into who I am today. As a senior in high school, you are probably stressing about admissions, SAT's, and the ACT. Once you get accepted all that stress eventually goes away. Then the real problems begin to arise.

If you think that the college courses are what will be your biggest obstacle think again. Now I don't want to take away what someone may feel will be the there biggest challenge but going through the experience for myself and hearing many stories most say other issues are what makes it difficult. Such as having to take on major responsibilities. Most don't realize, but when you first go to college, this is a taste of adulthood. You are practically alone on this journey, yes your parents will always be there for you, but you will have to take care of the things you need to.

This includes waking up on time for class, going to class, making your schedule, submitting your work on time, etc. It is so easy to drown in these things when you are trying to get adjusted without your parents or a guardian always being there for support. With this being said yes no matter how strong you think you may be, you will have breakdowns in college. Strangely enough, this is normal for us college kids. I have personally seen a few friends go through hard times based off of school stressing them out. Having a breakdown has nothing to do with how good of a student you are. It has to do with making sure that even though you want to be the best academically, you still make time for your mental health.

Balance is a skill that takes time but take my advice, it is okay to take a break and just breath for a second. Whatever you have on your to-do list will always be there. Remember to take care of yourself first.