4 Ways That College Challenges Us
Man, I love college.
Why? That might actually take forever to fully explain. There’s so many reasons why my time here at UGA has been remarkable. Solid friends, crazy fun social events, endless opportunities to use my gifts, rigorous classes, Saturdays between the Hedges, to name just a few.
You’d be reading for hours if I wrote a post on why I love college.
I think I can best sum it up like this: I’ve never had so much fun in my entire life, yet been more challenged in my entire life.
It might sound strange, but I think fun and challenging really go hand in hand. Without fun, it’s hard to enjoy. Without challenging, it’s hard to grow.
So with that in mind, here are the 4 key ways in which I think college challenges us. Obviously, there’s way more to it than this, but I think these are some of the main and most important.
1) College challenges our beliefs. I’m not talking about the stereotypical professor who tells the entire class that their entire worldview is outdated and wrong (though that certainty can happen), I’m talking about the challenge that comes with stepping outside of the environment we grew up in. That’s often when we are truly forced to discern what we value and belief in. My freshman year, I was faced with questions like: Are my beliefs just a product of my upbringing? Is my faith just a façade? Or is it truly rooted in the core of my identity? These questions are key, because they define everything else in our life- our source of joy, what we strive for, whom we surround ourselves with, etc.
2) College challenges our intentionality. Unless you’re as lucky as these jokers, things don’t magically happen. It’s hard to make friends or accomplish anything by simply showing up. A solid inner circle of friends won’t appear on it’s own, it has to be built. Build a strong, mature, and like-minded friend base, and it’s a blast. The same goes for anything. Without getting crystal clear about our intentions and doing things on purpose, it probably won’t happen.
3) College challenges our grit. Yes. Yes it does. Just ask me about the accounting tests I’ve taken. Or my intro to finance class. Or ask premed people about OChem. College throws some tough classes at us. We have those nights where we wonder how we’re gonna get it all done. When our energy is zapped and our brain is tired and we’ve been taking a test for almost 3 hours and we’ve got just 2 more questions to go, grit keeps us going.
4) College challenges our courage. Courage is what propels us outside of our comfort zone. There’s so many things that college throws at us that requires courage. It’s all over the spectrum. Job interviews, speaking in public, taking a stand for something, going hard on the dance floor, riding roller coasters, starting a podcast show. You get the picture. We don’t have to look very hard to find opportunities to be courageous.
What are the ways college has challenged you?
