Adapting is Hard
Everyone has their own experiences when it comes to college. Many good and many bad. I personally believe it’s based of background or where ones from. I could prove this due to my personal experience. Coming to the United States really recently and having to change and adapt to a lot of things, has been a huge journey that most people don’t really understand. Those who do also have different experiences which though we relate in most cases, isn’t always true.
But were not going to get into that today. The word adapt has so many meanings which interest me. Whether it’s getting used to something one is not used to or changing oneself entirely in other to not feel different.
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I thought adapting in college meant building one’s study habits and trying to look more approachable, so you’re liked by the masses but I was wrong. I’ve learnt that adapting in college is like this constant dance between who you were and who you’re becoming and what others expect you to be. For example, lets create this fake scenario of a guy called Lawrence. He’s new to college and wants to try everything out due to curiosity and also wants to fit in. He try’s alcohol for the first time and understands why people love it and begins to take it every chance he gets because of how it makes him feel. He begins to loose focus on his studies due to how excited he is of the possibilities of new things to try out. He gets reminded by a close friend of why he’s in college and goes through this internal battle/conflict of whether he’s adapting to college or losing his self in the process. This is one of the paradoxes of adaptation I think most of us face but don’t realize. He thought fitting in meant he had to say yes to everything which makes him question if he's becoming the person he actually wants to be.
