College is just one big equalizer. When you’re in high school, everything consists in that one bubble. That one clique. That one class. You don’t realize it, but when you enter college, everything that mattered in high school, doesn’t truly matter anymore.
When I was in high school, I was so concerned about the things that consisted within my theater, for example: I was so caught up in who I thought was getting certain roles, or who wasn’t at rehearsal that day, or who was talking crap about whom. None of that will matter as you get older. It might have seemed important at the time. The drama was just there to keep us busy and keep things interesting and we indulged ourselves in it just for the pure joy of being in on something. Other people in high school (not necessarily me), were so concerned with who valedictorian was or who was prettier or who was better at sports. I look back at some of the things I said and did in high school and I think to myself “I can’t go back and change that, I don’t regret that, but I wish I would’ve cared less about the situation and I wish I could tell myself that this won’t matter in a few months; Don’t worry you’ll be so content with life so soon.” College classes are huge, campuses are huge, and they are so many people from so many different walks of life around you that you don’t really sit their and think “Oh yeah, definitely that guy/girl is going to be valedictorian.” Or “She looked like she was captain of her cheer team.” LITERALLY NO ONE CARES. We are all just there to be ourselves and that’s the beauty of it. We can sit there and be who we are without the judgement or constant feeling of some sort of social anxiety.
Every now and again though you’ll get that one person who is still stuck in that high school mentality, and you just feel bad for them. We all need some time to grow as human beings, but there are people who still feed off of and indulge themselves in the drama just for the hell of it, because they need something that keeps making life interesting. They don’t realize it, but that’s what they’re doing. They’re making situations out of nothing just to feel something again, and its truly sad.
I was recently put in a situation where I had people poking and prawning till they just got something out of me and they never did and never will because none of it matters. You don’t see these people every day like you did in high school. In college you’re welcome to choose your friends and walk away when its time to without the pressure of all the drama. In college, I can be myself entirely and if someone doesn’t like that, then that’s on them and not me. If my name is still in their mouths that’s on them and not me.
People tend to feel isolated or alone in high school because they feel like they are the only person like them. In college, you will meet numerous amounts of people like them. Your uniqueness finds groups of people alike you.
This is the kind of mentality I forever want to live by. I will never again go back to that mentality of caring so much about the tiniest little thing. I will continue to let things go and move on because I know I am better off that way. I know I can live a more positive life that way, and you can too. Stop holding on and in. It’s okay to let things go and its okay to not care so much. It’s okay to walk away and its okay to focus on bigger and better things.