Everyone has this idea that, when you go to university, you will meet your best friends, your partner, and you’ll have the best years of your life.
While this is the reality for some people, for most, uni isn’t quite as easy and picturesque as it’s made to sound.
The reality of university can be lonely, hard, and gruelling. Often, people discover this side of university when they’re going through it.
Reality bites
We’ve put university on a pedestal. Some people may go not for the academics, but because they want to experience all these amazing things that people talk about. They go in expecting the best years of their lives and, when reality kicks in, it’s hard for people to process.
Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t to say that university won’t be fun, or that you won’t have a great time. But when we say university will be the best years of your life, it sets people up for failure. Everyone’s experience of university is different. I’ve known people to have had the picture-perfect experience while, for others, university became a trigger which led them on a downward spiral.
To avoid this feeling of disappointment, make sure that you do your research before attending university, and make sure you’re not going to uni just because of what you’ve seen about the nightlife! By preparing for the reality, you’ll feel a little less lost when deadlines come knocking and you still only have one friend after being at uni for six months.
There are positives
Don’t get me wrong. While there are low moments at university, it will be the only time when you can be carefree and get away with doing just about anything. Your experiences here will lay the foundations for who you become as an adult, away from home influences and expectations. It’s an incredibly important time for young adults, and which way it goes is dependent on you.
In the grand scheme of your life, university will make up a small part of that. While your time at uni is incredibly significant, the best years of your life aren’t reserved for when you’re a broke young adult who doesn’t have a clue where they’re going in life. That isn’t to say uni won’t be something you look back on with sentiment. But having this mindset can be quite toxic and can predetermine your emotions when you graduate.
Post-uni adult life is sobering compared to university, so working towards your dream job, finetuning your craft, and having financial freedom and figuring out what you want in life sounds pretty good to me.