THEIRS, OR YOURS?

     If you go to school or went to school in a college town, you know exactly what summers are like. It's quiet, less rowdy, and campus seems like a ghost town. For a university of about 58,000 students, that is what I was expecting when I headed for the international student services office at UF a couple of weeks ago. However, it was everything but a ghost town.
     There was a ton of orange and blue everywhere, people of all ages walking, talking and laughing, and as the red hand turned to a white man and I crossed the street, the voices only got louder. I had taken summer class last year and I didn't remember this many people on campus at one time. Ever. Just then the sun shone really bright and pierced my eyes so I tucked my forehead under my palm to get some relief, and as I looked down I saw a sign with a big arrow pointing right that read "Preview." I smiled and thought to myself "These poor freshmen just about to start college have absolutely no idea what they are getting into. They are going to really hate it." Right after I thought those words, something inside me asked me "Who says?"

     If you didn't know already, I earned my undergraduate degree at a small christian college in PA, and although I loved my professors and a few friends, it wasn't my ideal college. There were a lot of things I didn't understand or agree with that were happening administratively, and if I had to do it all over, I'm certain I would go with a different institution. Lets just say that my undergraduate experience was very much less than fulfilling. My graduate experience at UF however, was the opposite. If I could do it over, my undergraduate degree would have the University of Florida at the top. Even with my fulfilling and pleasurable experience at this institution, I looked at the freshmen coming to summer preview and was instantly overcome with a sense of doubt that they would enjoy college. Simply because I didn't.
     It's amazing how quickly we attempt to project our reality on others. Or even vice versa. It doesn't work for someone, so they try to give you all the reasons why it won't work for you. Someone had a bad reaction to something, so they tell you all the bad things that happened to them. Maybe it was a college that they didn't get to with a high GPA and try to convince you that applying is a joke. Maybe they're an expert or something and quote a 95% chance that this is not the right thing for you. Yadi, yadi, yada.

     Reality can be a weird concept to wrap our minds around, but one thing we need to understand is that just like finger prints, no two are the same. We may have some shared experiences or little things in common, but our journeys are never identical. Someone else's reality should not define your perspective on life or the way you live it. God's plans for you are awesome and true, and sometimes it may not seem like it, but thats why we have faith - to believe when we start to doubt. All it takes is for one person to tell you its impossible. Then one more. Then one more. Then just one more. And sooner or later, you start to believe it. Don't let people tell you how you will fail because they failed. Don't let people tell you how you won't make it because they didn't. Don't let people dictate to you how life will go, because they just. dont. know. Refuse to let anyone but you write your story. Your legacy will have only your name on it, whether or not it is one worth remembering.

     That I didn't have the best college experience doesn't mean others won't. That was my reality, not theirs.

"You dont have to know the future, but you can trust the one who holds it."

Thats theirs or yours? ...as i do it.

~***shanpepe***~

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