I think I always figured I'd go to college and graduate with a degree and automatically be super intelligent. I didn't think about the hard work and time that it takes to get an education. I have to admit, sometimes I can see the progress I've made in my education, and it's a wonderful feeling. But there is something else that stands out more for me. It is the progress I have made as a person. In high school, it is easy to shrink down and let other people have the limelight. It's easy to let yourself believe you aren't as pretty as this person, that you aren't as smart as that Valedictorian. Sometimes, it's easier to read a book than to talk to people (guilty). In high school, you let yourself believe that it is not your opinion of yourself that matters, but the perspective that others hold of you.
That changes.
College isn't easy. It isn't. What sane person signs up to leave their families for four (+) years to go to school thousands of miles away and do work twice as hard as you've ever done before? You can spend years finding your place in life before you leave home and have to start all over. The day my parents drove away and I turned to face Minnesota, I had only one question on my mind: "What on Earth was I thinking?"
The beauty of college is that you can't just float through. You just have to jump in and scramble through as best you can. Some days, it's all you can take to just keep your head above water. But then, things change. You meet people. People who are completely different than any people you have ever known. It's bizarre, and beautiful, but you learn more from the people around you than you ever will in a classroom.The only person around you to dictate your actions is yourself. In college, away from the safety of home and family, you learn what it means to be you. You learn what it takes to stand true to your values and stay firm in your beliefs. You learn to take what people say without letting it change who you are. You begin to understand that you are the only person who knows what it means to be you.
It's the strangest thing. It's the hardest thing I have ever done. But here in Minnesota, I am learning more about myself than I ever thought possible. Sometimes it's difficult, sometimes it's scary, but it's absolutely incredible.
