The university experience is known for many things: for stress, for parties, friendships, love, and more. First year students are excited to get the most of their experience while the final year students are cruising through to get to graduation. It’s a balance, but a lot of people don’t realize how personality-shaping university truly is. No matter what program and what year, you are growing as an adult in every single way. From living alone for the first time to navigating roommate problems, learning to cook questionable meals with the 15 dollars in your pocket, paying rent, tax, and budgeting. All of these things are difficult at first but once you learn to get going, it all gets easier. That’s growth!
Meeting new people is what helps with this too. You get to expand your horizons and learn about others’ experiences in meaningful ways. You can join a team, learn a new skill, and find your people. University is the turning point for where you can find yourself, if you look in the right places.
Of course, university has its hardships too; many hardships, especially being in engineering. But with hardships, your classroom community becomes closer. You learn to be there for others in ways you may have not known before. You may be helping a friend navigate their mental health while you may not be too familiar with it. Or you could be supporting a classmate who had a bad break-up. All of these things slowly build your soft skills and open-mindedness, making you more resilient in dealing with tough situations outside of just academics. That’s growth!
The eye-opening thing with learning to be an adult is just how much adults DON’T know. Just how much digging and exploring you need to do on your own and how confusing it often feels. As a kid you look at your parents and other grown-ups and you think, “Wow, they’re so awesome they’ve got it all handled!” when that could be the furthest thing from the truth. Being able to make choices for yourself, and handling issues that come your way independently helps you build strategies and techniques to support yourself.
For others, these changes are hard to deal with, and can cost more time and energy. That all depends on the person, but at the end of the day what matters is that the situation gets resolved and you build up your toolbox some more! Some people try to hold onto their past and find it difficult to change, and this becomes an issue when loneliness comes into play as well. For example, I consider myself someone who dislikes change. I’m not unable to deal with it, but once things change drastically, I need time to figure things out and become comfortable again. This is something a lot of people also experience but don’t talk about when it comes to university. If you’re living in Ontario for the first time, away from family and friends, this is a very real feeling. What matters is that as long as you push through and continue to place one foot after the other, things WILL work out. Nothing ever stays the same, for the good and the bad. Realizing this on your own when you’re stuck in a strange place is the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel. That’s what bravery is, doing something when you’re afraid, uncertain, or confused, and that is what will help you get on your feet again. Of course, it is important to take care of your mental and physical health as well. You must seek out the support if you need it from friends, counsellors and others, but just KNOW in your heart that it will all be okay. Once you recognize this, your toolbox is almost complete. Knowing that you can get out of any situation is what boosts your confidence and helps you find your footing.
To conclude, university is different, very different from high school in all the ways you could imagine. I am a second year student now and I am still learning to navigate new situations that arise, and building up my own toolbox as I go. You and I will become the adults we want to be. We will achieve everything we hope for, as long as we continue to build ourselves not just as students, but as people, as humans who care for others and are learning alongside everyone else how to be an adult. That is bravery and that is growth!
Leave a Reply