Best four years?

By the time I came to IU, I had been told many times that college would be “the best four years of my life.” After that kind of buildup, I was naturally disappointed to find out college is actually a time full of both highs and lows, just like anything else. \nWhat I’ve learned is that college, if anything, is probably four of the most uncertain years of life. It is a time when we all experience success and failure, friendship and loneliness, confidence and insecurity. And just when you think you’re finally settled, everything can change the next semester.\nIt wasn’t until I stopped trying to constantly gauge whether or not I was having “the best four years of my life” that I was able to begin enjoying myself at IU. At some point I realized college is just as much about the challenges as it is about the fun. \nIt’s just as much about the days when you don’t quite know who you are or what you’re doing as it is about the stereotypical images of parties and Frisbee on the quad. College has presented me with the most challenging moments of my life – academically, emotionally and morally. But I have also experienced a lot of friendship and laughter along the way. All of these things, good and bad, have helped shape me into the person I am trying to become.\nIU is a great place to be lost during these years of perpetual confusion; it is full of opportunities for people who are still trying to figure out who they are. I decided I wanted to study psychology and found out IU has one of the best departments in the country. I decided I wanted to study abroad, and IU had already prearranged 80 programs for me to choose from. I decided I wanted to write, and IU was accepting columnist applications for its award-winning newspaper.\nIU provides a wonderful environment for this time of transition, but if you believe that this is the best four years of your life then you also believe everything will be downhill after graduation. Quite the opposite. I like to think IU has given us a solid foundation that will only cause our futures to become bigger and brighter.\nIt has occurred to me that I would be horribly disappointed if my life peaked at a time characterized by smoky bars, casual sex and diets that consist entirely of fast food. When I picture the best years of my life I see something quite different: a stable marriage, a fulfilling career and time to travel.\nHopefully college, with all its ups and downs, is the best time of your life while you’re here. But if you’re still looking back when you’re 80 and saying college was the best four years of your life, I hope it’s only because you recognize that it was a necessary stepping stone that has allowed you to reach for bigger things.