We’ve all been told not to compare ourselves to others, but
I think this phrase takes on a new importance in college.
Our generation has acquired an obsessive need to document
every single fun moment they have and share it publicly. We call this social
media. And yes, while it is fun to see what your friends are up to at other
schools and keep up with their life through their facebook account, I think
we’ve all had that moment of jealousy.
Why can’t my school be
more like that? She’s probably having so much more fun than me.
It’s sad, really. That the people who matter to us most, the
people who we miss on a regular basis-thus the appeal of seeing how they’re
doing from the pictures they post-are the ones that often make us feel bad
about ourselves. But it’s the reality.
I took an online survey about social media the other day for
extra credit, and was honestly embarrassed by some of my answers. They asked me
to choose how often I feel sad or think about how much fun people are having
while on Facebook, and I hadn’t realized how often that was.
The thing is, we can’t help it. This is the natural effect
of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any other social media site. And
personally, I think the effect is even harder on those of us that go to school
far from home.
It’s one thing to see pictures of your friends enjoying
college life at school, but it’s another to see tweets like “So good to be
home” on a regular basis. The fact is, the majority of the kids we went to high
school with are going to be able to go back more often than we are, but we
can’t let ourselves get upset over it.
Sure, your best friend might have been home two or three
times already since second semester started. Maybe even three or four, and
you’re at one or even zero.
Who cares?
At the end of the day, staying away from home for longer
will only make it easier to be away. When you constantly go back, it makes it
even harder to return to school and get back into the swing of things. When we
go home, we get used to seeing the people that we miss, and when we get back on
campus and realize that they’re not going to be there, it makes us miss them
that much more.
So I guess the moral of this entry is: BE STRONG MY OUT OF
STATERS!
You’re your own person, and there’s no reason to base your
happiness at school off of how your high school friends are doing. They’re at
different schools and having different experiences than you, and that’s
perfectly fine. In fact, I think it’s fantastic. It may be overused, but I think
distance really does “make the heart grow fonder”, and any true friendships you
have will be stronger after your time apart. The longer you spend away from
your friends and family, the more you appreciate them and the more special the
time you eventually spend with them is.
Being different and going to the school where none of your
friends are going is going to open so many doors for you. It gives you the opportunity
to branch out, meet new people, and have your own experiences that will teach
you things about yourself that you never expected to learn.
It might be scary, but it’s worth the risk. So don’t sweat
the small stuff. Your friends might be just as jealous looking at all your
pictures, looking at you being all grown-up and independent J
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