A Brief Letter to College Freshmen
Dear Newbie,
A wise old guy once said, "Sit by my side/and let the world slip/we shall ne'er be younger." That wise old guy is my loathed enemy, Bill Shakespeare. And while most of the time I curse his name, there are times when single sentences redeem him in my eyes. This is one of those times. "Sit by my side/and let the world slip/we shall ne'er be younger"...this is college, in its essence. It's about going out and finding our place in the world and then sitting back, with new people on our "team"/in our "squad"/on our side, ready to let the future take care of itself. We will never be younger. Another wise old guy once said "we are as old as we've ever been and as young as we'll ever be." Actually, that was Eleanor Roosevelt (and a misquote. But it works). College does not have to be the best time of your life. Especially not the first semester of college. But know that there are people by your side, willing to stand next to you and hold you up. When you're freaking out, they'll be the ones that let all the cares fall away. They'll be the ones reminding you that #yolo. Because we are young and dumb and in it together. We'll make mistakes. We'll fall short. We'll fail. But beside every valley is a mountain and we're just hill hopping it through this life onto the next one. Life doesn't have to be peaches and moonbeams. There's no inherent beauty in that. There's beauty in realness and rawness, in the everyday and the mundane, in the song that catches you off guard, and the text that's perfectly timed. We're all a little adrift right now. Embrace it; relish it; take it as it is. It's not perfect, but what is? Enjoy being young, letting the world slip, with people by your side.
Day 1033 Song Recommendation: "Shine a Light" by BANNERS. Thanks to DL for the song rec.
-SE Wagner
A wise old guy once said, "Sit by my side/and let the world slip/we shall ne'er be younger." That wise old guy is my loathed enemy, Bill Shakespeare. And while most of the time I curse his name, there are times when single sentences redeem him in my eyes. This is one of those times. "Sit by my side/and let the world slip/we shall ne'er be younger"...this is college, in its essence. It's about going out and finding our place in the world and then sitting back, with new people on our "team"/in our "squad"/on our side, ready to let the future take care of itself. We will never be younger. Another wise old guy once said "we are as old as we've ever been and as young as we'll ever be." Actually, that was Eleanor Roosevelt (and a misquote. But it works). College does not have to be the best time of your life. Especially not the first semester of college. But know that there are people by your side, willing to stand next to you and hold you up. When you're freaking out, they'll be the ones that let all the cares fall away. They'll be the ones reminding you that #yolo. Because we are young and dumb and in it together. We'll make mistakes. We'll fall short. We'll fail. But beside every valley is a mountain and we're just hill hopping it through this life onto the next one. Life doesn't have to be peaches and moonbeams. There's no inherent beauty in that. There's beauty in realness and rawness, in the everyday and the mundane, in the song that catches you off guard, and the text that's perfectly timed. We're all a little adrift right now. Embrace it; relish it; take it as it is. It's not perfect, but what is? Enjoy being young, letting the world slip, with people by your side.
Day 1033 Song Recommendation: "Shine a Light" by BANNERS. Thanks to DL for the song rec.
-SE Wagner
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