Well… here it goes.
University. What is it? For some it is a means of meeting new people, taking fun classes, and enjoying the student life. For others it means being uncertain of their future, taking classes they hate, and going through emotions and feelings they never once felt.
No one had prepared me for what university was going to be like. In movies it looks like it’s the best time of your life and that’s because they don’t really show you the full picture. They only show you the positives. But, just like anything, there are always two sides. I’m currently in my third year of university and I still have days where I feel completely defeated, like even if I can get up and go to school, nothing will help.
University is hard, it’s supposed to be. It is a place that is supposed to “challenge” you according to my professors. But university challenges you in more ways than one. It isn’t simply a challenge in terms of your intelligence and your ability to memorize the 20 amino acids, it is a challenge because there will be days where you won’t want to do anything besides lay in bed but you know that you need to get up and keep going.
After completing my first year, someone had told me the following:
“There is a course that every student will take in first year that they don’t know about, and it is called University 101, and very few excel in it.”
When I heard that, I thought that it was one of the best ways to summarize my first year of university. I was thrown into an environment that I had no idea how to survive in, and truthfully it took a full year for me to figure it out. Now, of course not everyone experiences the same events and I have friends who have thrived in their first year, however, it is not uncommon to know more people who struggled than those who succeeded.
It is in those times of struggle and challenge that you build who you are today. It is cliche, however, it is true. The problems that you will face in university will not stop in first year, and quite frankly you will face problems throughout your entire life. That is why it is so important to understand how to change a bad thing into a good thing. You can be upset and infuriated at whatever or whomever it may be, but that won’t help you. Of course, feelings like that are normal and they should be felt but I believe it is how long that you spend dwelling that will make a difference on your outcome.
You are the only person that can make positive change for yourself. You are the only person that has control on your life. And hence, you dictate your own future. So, when times get tough (and they will) remember that. Remember to keep fighting and to keep pushing through it all because at the end of this all there is something good waiting. Sometimes it may be difficult to see it, but it is there. Life was never meant to be easy, but you have the ability to view your path with dandelions and roses, or with a downpour of rain and thunder. If you choose to be happy and you choose to believe that there will be better things out there, then you will find it… it will just take time.
So, next time you think that you can’t, just know that you can. You are the one that can change that, you are the one who will pave your path, and you are the one creating the life you want for yourself.
Don’t be afraid to defeated because it was what comes after that will make you who you are.
University Life 