The first year of college has taught me too much to put into one article, and although I’ve tried and tried to get my advice out there through other articles, this one should stick out to you.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”

― Bernard M. Baruch

You’re probably wondering why I told you to stop being you. I didn’t, not the way you think. Being “you” is being someone who is all about pleasing others. You change your personality based on the people you’re around. If you’re around people you’re not comfortable around, or they intimidate you, you don’t crack your stupid jokes or let yourself laugh really hard. When you’re around people that all do one thing in common, you do it, even though you might absolutely hate it. I’m not calling anyone out, either. I’m guilty of this all the time. I have too many personalities to count, but I only have one favorite one. Now I’m going to be in mom mode for a second.

My mom has always, always preached to me that just being yourself will get you far in life. Well, when people get to college that slips away from our minds. We get so caught up in the life of a broke college student that needs to always be doing homework, never sleeping, always working out, and somehow keeping up with our social life all at once. It’s kind of hard to keep in mind to be yourself when there are 200,000 people around you every single day. So, if you’re reading this, do one thing today.

Delete those other personalities. Stop being “you” around some people, and you around others. Start laughing as loud as you want, and those who leave wouldn’t have stayed after college. College is all about finding your lifelong friends, but honestly I think I met my lifelong friends in high school, and I don’t talk to them much while I’m away. Act like you do with them, and people will either flock to you or run away, and you should be thankful for both. There have been absolutely terrible moments in college when the only thought I had was driving home and never coming back. There have been moments where I knew I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else other than where I was. Just as quickly as my moods change, my personalities do.

So go out there and be your favorite personality. Mine happens to be the one who makes corny jokes that only dads should tell, and singing songs that were never popular to anyone else. Yours might be taking that step of faith and asking people to go to church with you, because that’s what you really like doing instead of going to parties. Or it might be saying no to going out one night, and instead studying because you know deep down getting an education is more important than not remembering a Thursday night.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

― Dr. Seuss