Things I wish I had learned as an underclassman

As this semester and my junior year of college come to a halting close, it comes time for the inevitable reflection on the past academic, and personal, year of my life.

It’s been a banner year, which is not to imply that all of my other 20 years have been less than banner. This one just seems a little more special.

Maybe I’ll look back in a few years, or maybe even a few months, and see how wrong I was.

But for now, in my departing column for the spring, let me tell you all the things I wished I’d figured out a little sooner.

First, you are the only person who can take control of your life.

Friends, family and the like can heap mounds and mounds of advice on you, but at the end of the day it’s up to you to make the change you strive to see in yourself.

Personally, I had to see for myself that my total lack of health awareness was making me the unhappiest. I grasp that this is the biggest of first world problems, but it was the mountain in my life I had to scale. But it never clicked until I made the decision for myself to start taking better care of myself.

The only person who could make that choice was me.  

Second, make time to read for pleasure.

You won’t regret shaving a half hour off your pregame or your study session to enjoy literature.

You will regret missing out on all the great writing we have available to us today.

Third, I wish I had appreciated sophomore year more.

You’re no longer a novice freshman, but you still have three whole years of college ahead of you. When I look back, I predict I will see my sophomore year as encompassing my darkest days here at IU.

This, of course, harks back to my first realization. This was my own doing. While personal and environmental factors contributed, I settled with being melancholic. I settled for selling myself short and holding on to relationships that only broke me down.

I encourage current freshmen to look toward next year and make the most of it. You’ll be a senior before you can say “meal points.”

Fourth, my life will most likely always revolve around some sort of ridiculous and brilliant cable television show.

Don’t blame me, blame Lena Dunham. But I don’t care, I love it.

Fifth, you are not the summation of your blunders. Similarly, you are not the summation of your triumphs.

You are an intricate and flawed jumble of the two. Too often there are days when you let one or the other define you. It will probably never become easy, but when you’re at your lowest low or highest high, remember this is just one day in the grand scheme of your life. Whether good or bad, all will eventually pass.

Sixth, don’t wait around for people to come to you. Seek friendships.

Don’t throw your precious time around with basic betches, but don’t be afraid to expand your social horizons.

I’ve become amazing friends with people over this year that I should have gotten to know a lot sooner. I’m most thankful to have another year with them, but I can’t help but think of all the lost time we have to make up.

Seventh — and finally — don’t live in fear because you don’t know where your future is headed.

I’ve spent far too many days beating myself up because so-and-so got this internship and that person has this job lined up. Meanwhile, here I am, not sure of what lies ahead for me.

If you’re working hard and you’re doing you, things will fall into place for you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu