Here's the thing...

Preface: this is a rant. I've been medicated for a cold in the past 24 hours, and so don't take anything I say here seriously.

I've had this on my mind for a few months, so I think I'm finally gonna share:

College was not what it was cracked up to be.

Eeeek! I know, I said it. Give me 30 lashes, or what have you. I understand that my sentiments are not shared by the general populace, and that makes me weird. Get over it, I've been weird for awhile, and I'm not gonna change anytime soon.

Here's my reasoning behind taking the college experience down by a few notches:

-Unrealistic expectations. Between hearing rosy glossed over memories from parents, seeing how "awesome" college is in the television/film arena, and in my case, getting spoonfuls of what is supposed to happen in college from my cultural background (find the love of your life by 21, get married and have babies before graduation)-- all of that just set up for loads of disappointment. My university was not the same one my parents attended 20 years earlier. It in no way represents any university found in a tv series or a movie. And those cultural expectations? That happens to maybe 10% of the people who went to the same university I did. Lemme tell you, it's weird when the things that your culture says are supposed to happen to you on a certain time frame don't happen on that time frame.

-My college years were miserable. Don't get me wrong, I met great people, I had a fantastic education, and on the whole I came out a better person. But you couldn't pay me to go back and do it again. I dealt with more outside stress, more worry, more anxiety than a person my age really should have had to. You know how people look back and wistfully remember the great times in college? I won't. My college years were defined by anxiety, depression, worry. The best lesson I learned in college (and the one I'm most grateful for) is how to get out of bed, how to keep going and how to move past all the bad stuff going on in life, and get things done.

--You know how I know college wasn't what it was cracked up to be? Life after college! I can't tell you how much I've loved my life after college-- it's been great. I joined an LDS singles group that was much more healthy in terms of how young LDS adults dated and courted one another. I found the love of my life and married him. I've been able to really strengthen my family as an adult living nearby, and have countless opportunities to serve. I live in a ward with great people, who are incredibly understanding of different people in different phases of life. I have a job where I get the opportunity to live my standards and share the gospel all the time.

I think my biggest criticism of the college experience, is that some look back at college and go "this was the best time of my life, and my friends are the best from college, and it was so great and it can never get any better." How can you say that? Shouldn't the next phase of life just get better? Shouldn't we be aiming to improve on our circumstances, to live more outside of ourselves, to serve others, to love more, to live the gospel with greater enthusiasm-- in other words-- to live life as our Father in Heaven would want us to live it-- better?

How can we do that if we hold on to a time and idealize it as the "best" when really the best is yet to be?

ok, I think I've made my point. end rant.