December 23, 2014

Embracing Your New-Found Freedom


When you got to college, you recognized right away the freedoms that you had. OK, so it probably wasn’t be in bed by 9 p.m. or you’re grounded back home, but even if you had lax parents, rules were always there, spoken or otherwise. Now that you’re in college, it’s all up to you. But don’t go crazy just yet!

Sometimes the lack of restrictions can be a bit of a wake-up call. Yet it’s too often that this lack of rules is applied only to getting crazy. Instead, take a more holistic view of the freedoms that college offers. You have freedom in every sense, and you can embrace that from a developmental, social, and, yes, even academic standpoint.

So maybe your parents didn’t like some of the friends you hung out with. Maybe they had reason, or maybe they were just being old-fashioned. Now that you’re in college, you’ll be the only person who decides or really has any influence with whom you hangout. No, this doesn’t mean you should jump to hangout with the “wrong crowd,” but what it does mean is that you can take the chance to get to know a variety of new people. Even if your school isn’t huge, there will be plenty of people to meet and people from a lot of different backgrounds. So take advantage and make some new friends, friends that might be different from who you usually hung out with.

College is also the time to explore some new hobbies and fun freedoms. If you’re interested in an activity, be it dodgeball, rock climbing, or computer programing, there’s probably a club or group out there just waiting for you to join. So now that you have the freedom, why not? After school, you won’t have such a wealth and concentration of new activities and things to get involved in so readily available. Since you’re in college, now’s your chance! And there’s really nothing to lose when it comes to trying a new activity, so take advantage and have some fun.

You might not be sure for quite some time what you’ll major in. That’s all right, since, once again, it’s time to be free and explore. But whether you’re sure or not, take the time—and the freedom—to explore some new classes. You’ll probably be majoring in what you find to be the most interesting, but there’s bound to be more that’s interesting to you out there, and now you can learn all about it. If you despised history in high school, you probably won’t magically love it in college, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t yet unknown subjects out there that you’ll enjoy. And you’re free to choose whichever ones you’d like.

This is really just a sample of freedoms that college offers. All the choices you make, on a daily level, on a semester level, and on a level that may impact the rest of your life, are yours to make. That prospect might be a bit scary, but take your time to think about any such choices and just remember that such opportunity won’t be around forever. So, let freedom ring. 

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