I’m sitting in the back of a long room with 3 successful business professionals answering questions about what their college degrees have to do with their current career path. (Spoiler alert: Each of them aren’t doing anything related to their undergrad degree!!) As one of the professionals states, our purpose as students is to “chill and learn” . It's as if my entire college experience flashed before my eyes. Instead of feeling nostalgic about the past four years, I found myself feeling moments of regret. Regret for missed relationships. Regret for missed basketball games. Regret for any time I chose to sit in my own self pity instead of choosing experience.
An experience is an encounter with something or someone you would’ve otherwise not had the opportunity of encountering. To “chill and learn” is a simple way of stating exactly what four years of the college experience should be formed around. But to chill is not to omit any responsibility or opportunity from your life. The term is giving you permission to take the weight off your shoulders and have an encounter that you would’ve missed had you not “chilled”. Each experience will also have an opportunity for you to learn. I’m not talking about learning about the powerhouse of the cell or why a debit should match a credit, but gaining new experiences that help you continue to grow.
So, the special equation to follow in your college career is that if you chill and allow experiences to come your way, then you have the opportunity for growth. And isn’t growth what we’re in college to experience? Now, I know the term self pity seems intense and really sad, but the part that I want you to recognize is that it’s self-inflicted. Yes, sometimes other people can be mean. And yes, sometimes life hits you hard and a good movie is the only fix. But don’t let those reasons become the excuse you use to avoid experiences that might challenge you or open new doors.
I think a popular misconception of college is that you’re supposed to magically be the girl on Instagram that’s taking pictures with her life-long best friends in the dorm they just absolutely love living in. If I took a poll of girls who genuinely believed this to be their experience I think 5% would say yes. My advice to you who would’ve said yes, continue to keep an open mind and search for even greater experiences that push you to grow! And my encouragement to those who are in the same place as me, I push you to try one new thing a week that you haven’t before. It can be as small as choosing a new seat in the dining hall or as big as jumping into a new workout class without knowing a soul.
To chill and learn is to calm the part of your mind that is filled with “what if” and “why not me” in order to be completely open to growth in more ways than you could imagine. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “All of life is a constant education.” I want you to remember this quote the next time you think an experience won’t help you learn something or challenge you to grow. And remember, just chill and learn.