You’ve just finished the first quarter or semester of your sophomore year and, unfortunately, it hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as planned. Classes were harder than you thought, friends you thought would be in your life forever have drifted and a part of you even misses the dorm food. This transition from Freshman to Sophomore year wasn’t as easy as you thought it would be. In fact, some of my peers have even called this the “Sophomore Slump.” But for me, it’s just been another quarter.

It is not fair to blame your struggles on this “Sophomore Slump” you speak of. Everyone has difficulties and issues that they face everyday. I guarantee you, you faced similar issues your freshman year, will face them your junior year and will, in fact, face these issues your whole life. But this is completely normal, nothing to blame on your second year of college.

While you grow older, things change. People come and go, goals and dreams change and even outlooks on the world can develop differently. One must learn how to face, handle and overcome these changes. Learning how to adapt to these changes isn’t easy, but it is so important to recognize that learning to adapt to changes is something you will be doing your entire life. You will always be facing new challenges throughout your life, whether it is moving into your first apartment, applying for your first “adult” job or learning how to discipline your children.

What is more important than acknowledging your problems, is how you handle them. Don’t be scared of change, embrace it. Your happiness and success relies completely on the actions of one, single person: yourself. Instead of spending your whole quarter hating on those friends who “left you,” go out of your comfort zone and reach out to some new ones. Struggling with the boredom of apartment living? Go out and join some clubs. Go to your teacher’s office hours. Don’t be afraid to cut toxic people out of your life. Don’t put more effort into a relationship than you are receiving.

Make choices that benefit you. Stop dwelling on your present and make change for your future.

In the end, life is how you look at it. Staying hidden and tucked away in your room watching Netflix is easy; putting yourself out there is the hard part. If life were always easy, there would be no growth or development within people and their mindsets. You must take every situation that is thrown at you as a new struggle to face and a new challenge to push through. Don’t dwell on the cop out of a “Sophomore Slump,” take these changes as a chance to grow and learn. It is only a slump if you let it be one.