Growing Through Your Freshman Year

When you move off to college, it isn't just your schooling that changes; it's your whole life.

Moving away from home to start college is hard. I moved from the middle of the West Texas desert all the way to the tropical Mobile and University of Mobile. I had to get used to the fact that rain isn't just a seasonal thing, and being an hour away from four beaches isn't weird to anybody else but me. I had to adjust and find out how to keep up with laundry, how to go to the doctor by myself and how to balance doing everything on my own. 

Suddenly you miss your mom or dad jumping on your case to do your homework or go to school, because now it's up to you, and it's a lot to handle. 

You grow a lot through all your time at college, but the most growing pains come from freshman year. You learn how to manage your time, live on your own, and realize how to stand for yourself. You learn how maybe that job you dreamed about since you were a child isn't you, and you find your true calling. You have mental breakdowns, fail tests, and fight and lose friends in your life. But that is what helps you grow. It helps you realize who you are and see who you want to be. God helps humble you in ways you may never have seen coming.

I came in freshman year with my head high and my heart set on being a worship leadership major. I loved music and didn't really know how to do anything else, so why not, right? Well, after one short semester of being a music major I went home drained and found myself not loving music at all. Just because I didn't know anything else, it didn’t mean I was willing to lose my love for the art. I came back the spring semester as a business major after hearing God clearly pointing me in that direction, and now I'm halfway through my time here at University of Mobile, and I haven't looked back! 

So, to the incoming freshman that may be worried about what you're going to do or how college will be, this is for you. 

Don't be afraid to take risks and to branch out. Things are going to happen and you will be wrecked sometimes, but take those things and learn from them. Take in all you face because it's really going to grow you. You may be 10 minutes away from home or 1,000 miles away from home, but I promise no matter how far, you will be hit with changes and grow in ways you never would think! Strangers will become your closest friends and you will grow into a whole new person. 

Listen to and get to know your professors, because they really do know what is going on. University of Mobile professors really do care about you.  GO TO CLASS because you can't grow from information you don't soak in. 

Lastly, listen to what God has to say and where He calls you. He will lead you to exactly where you need to go, but only if you listen. I would never be where I am if I kept my head down and done only what I wanted. I took a chance on a degree I never saw myself doing, and I haven't looked back. College is about growing and figuring out who you are and who you want to be, but you don't have to figure that out alone. So get ready and enjoy college. 

Posted on UMobile.edu on April 11, 2018.