Imagine a seventh grader knowing exactly what they want to do with their life. Knowing the school they want to go to, the major they want and their overall dream job. They have it planned out down to the location of their dream job. That was me. I was that seventh grader.

I had always wanted to go to medical school to become a pediatric oncologist. I had the plan when I came to school here at UND. Then it shifted. I didn’t want to commit to the time commitment of medical school. I wanted to start my life. Then I started my journey of changing my major.

If it wasn’t for dual credits in high school, I would have been very far behind in classes. I have completed my essential studies, thankfully, so now I can play catch up on the classes I missed all last year.

Some students are not as fortunate. There is a lot of pressure on freshman in college, even seniors in high school, to come up with an idea of what they want to do or become when they are older. Some have it figured out and stick with it for their entire college careers. Others, like me, change it three times in one semester.

The pressures on students are unmet. Students these days pay ridiculous amounts of money for a degree, work multiple jobs to pay rent and to go to school, study and try and maintain some sort of social life. We as students often feel the pressure of classes and professors telling us this will be the real world.

Will this be the real world? It easily could be, but we don’t know that. We as students are taking it one day at a time. One class at a time to try and get by.

We are held to a standard that often leads to disappointment. We hold ourselves to be the best possible version of ourselves 24 hours a day seven days a week. The high standard that we place on ourselves is simply setting ourselves up for failure. We have to take time to let our guard down and just take a step back and breathe. Often times, we feel alone and stuck inside our own minds and we don’t know where to turn.

Fortunately, we have help here at UND. The counseling center is paid for by our student fees so it is “free” to students. We have resources on campus to help us get through the tough weeks and the tough days.

We are not alone. We do not always have to have a front up. We don’t have to have it all together all the time. We are young, we have our whole lives ahead of us. So what if you change your mind on what you want to do with your life? It is your life. Choose the dream and follow your passion to become the true best version of yourself. Know that you are not alone and there are resources out there to help you with the hard exam you have coming up, or help get through the tough week you may be having.

College is tough, but college is fun. Let’s enjoy the time we have with our new friends before we all have to go out in to the real world that we hear about all the time.