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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion

COLUMN: College is more than an MRS degree

Find an adventure, not a soulmate.

I’ve always been told finding someone in college to spend the rest of my life with was bound to happen. Whether it was in my bio lecture or a club, “Mr. Right” would somehow weave his way into my daily routine and make everything okay for the rest of my life.

However, having gone through a year of college, I have realized there are things far more important than spending your time earning an MRS degree.

College is a time for 
personal — especially mental — growth. It is a time in which you are supposed to get out of your comfort zone, meet new people and try things.

While actively trying to look for someone to call your soul mate may seem inevitable, it’s actually the opposite. It’s not that we’re looking in the wrong places or doing the wrong things, but simply that we’re jumping to the end when we should be 
focused on the beginning.

It’s far more important to realize personal growth and finding your own independence is key.

A lot of people come to college with no sense of direction, what clubs to join or where they fit in. These four years are essential to the rest of your life because they help you develop your true personality, both around friends and in a professional environment.

You are placed in situations during your years at university unique to any others you will experience. You will react differently to your life during this time, using your skills you’re acquiring to fine-tune yourself.

Using experiences to shape your personality and how you feel about yourself is the first step to becoming comfortable with someone else.

College is also an amazing environment for exposure to people different than you. You could surprise yourself when you find hanging out with a different crowd could lead to a lifelong friendship — or relationship — with someone you’d never expect.

While having that happen is lucky and fortunate, odds are you’ll end up with a lot more friends than potential suitors, which is better than you would ever expect. All it takes is a step outside your comfort zone.

The majority of freshmen go off to school when they’re 18 or 19 years old. They have the rest of their lives ahead of them — four years of academics and social situations, followed by a professional job and possibly traveling.

There’s plenty of time to let a relationship blossom into something more serious and to worry about things like forever.

Too many college-aged adults are focused on flipping the page to the next chapter of their life, when they should be concerned with perfecting the now.

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