Going off to college and suddenly being constantly surrounded by new people and opportunities means that you get to learn a few lessons.
Some you have to learn through experience, and some simply by common sense.
Below, 20 lessons that I've come to learn (some, admittedly, through the hard way).
1. People are kind of terrible.
Honestly, there are a lot of people who are just well, not great. And it's unfortunate but it's life and it doesn't mean you yourself have to be like that.
2. When you find the good ones, hold on.
To add to the fact that there are a lot of kind of terrible people out there, there are also a whole bunch of really great people hidden within that group. When you find those people, hold onto them.
3. Everyone is crazy in his own way.
Seriously, everyone is crazy. Some to lesser extents, and everyone in a different way, but it's just something to accept. You're crazy too.
4. Try something new out.
Do something you haven't done before or something you knew about but that you may have been unwilling to try before. What have you really got to lose?
5. Some days are just going to be bad
There will be days that you wake up and it seems as though every single possible thing is going wrong. You might oversleep, spill your coffee, and get into a fight with somebody...all before 11 am. That being said, the thing about these days is that they always end and there's always a new day.
6. Always take that shower.
Seems very basic BUT hear me out. There are going to be moments when you think to yourself "let me just shower in the morning" or "I'll do it later." Do not do it later.
7. A bad grade or two won't kill you.
You really don't need to get perfect grades all the time. You should try to do as much as you can, but you also shouldn't kill yourselves over grades.
8. Neither will a break from studying.
On top of that, it's okay to take a break from studying. Yes, even during finals season. I can almost assure you that one half an hour break won't make or break anything...except maybe your sanity.
9. You don't have to do the same things as your friends.
You don't have to pretend to like something you don't, and you certainly don't have to do something you don't like. You might as well take the opportunity to do what you really like, even if that means it's by yourself. Or, chances are, you have different types of friends who can join you for different types of activities.
10. Laundry.
This isn't some sort of tip about being a laundry maniac, but if you see the laundry piling up, it's probably best to brave it and do the wash before you're all out of underwear. You really can't go wrong here.
11. Compromise
I'm not saying this is easy to do. But, when you're around so many varied types of people and personalities, it's almost impossible that everyone is going to agree on the same thing, so compromise is the goal here.
12. Eat the ice cream.
Maybe you shouldn't eat a whole pint of ice cream every day, and maybe you don't even like ice cream- but the point here is that you don't need to deprive yourself all the time. Eat that cookie, watch that Netflix episode. Don't make yourself crazy.
13. Have experiences.
Spend money on experiences rather than just buying things. You'll remember going out to dinner for a friend's birthday more than you'll think about that shirt you want to buy.
14. Change what you say yes or no to.
You know how sometimes you don't want to upset your friend so you just agree with whatever they want to do? And you also know how sometimes someone asks you to do something and your response comes out along the lines of "I would, but I'm too lazy?" Yeah, switch those kinds of replies.
15. Don't feel bad about your decisions.
Things happen that you might regret later on. Or that might bother other people. The truth is that you're not always going to love how situations turn out, and neither will the people around you. But you just can't please everyone.
16. ...And don't dwell on these decisions.
As someone who is very guilty of this one, I know firsthand just how much you can dwell on the same thought for much too long. Listen, it doesn't do any good to overthink what a. Can't be changed b. Nobody else is probably thinking that much about.
17. The Last Minute Strategy.
Is it super stressful, yes? Will it happen again after every time you tell yourself that it won't? Also (probably) yes. It's ideal to space work out to avoid this stress, but we all know that things unexpectedly come up that might derail or interrupt our work. So hey, don't beat yourself up over the whole last minute plan because chances are you'll get through it fine anyway.
18. Be polite.
Don't let yourself get walked all over, but don't be a jerk. There's absolutely no reason to not say "hi" to someone, especially someone you know, as you walk by each other. And people will always appreciate a genuine please or thank you if you need something.
19. You don't have to be friends with everyone.
You're not going to like everybody, and not everybody is going to like you. As long as you don't pretend to be someone you're not, you'll find the right people you're really meant to be with.
20. When you feel like doing nothing and moping around- that's the best time to do something.
This isn't to say that you need to go out all the time and constantly be on the go- that's not that what this is about. What this is about is when you're upset about something-anything-and you feel so upset that you feel it's almost impossible to leave your bed. That's when you should get up leave your bed the most. Or you know, at least take a shower.
Of course, I could go on. But, if there's one last concept I've learned, it's that sometimes you should quit while you're ahead.
