The start of a new school year means that there are also plenty of new faces and opportunities. You would be surprised to know just how much your campus has to offer you. Whether it is your first semester of college or your last, these 3 steps will be sure to help you thrive this coming year in college.
1) BE OPEN
College is a great opportunity to learn more about the world around you and the person you are becoming. Don’t be stagnant, but rather go and explore. It might be challenging to go outside of your comfort zone, but an incredible journey always starts with that first step. Be open to taking new classes, joining new clubs, and meeting new people. And not just new people, but people who are actually different than you. Take on a challenge, learn a new skill, take up a new hobby. Be open to being stretched and letting your thoughts and ideas be challenged as well. Only then can you really take ownership of what you believe and why. Be open.
2) BE ROOTED
The sky is the limit for you! But you will only go as high as your roots go deep below. Remember where you came from and all those who shaped you to be the person you are today. In college it can be so easy to succumb to peer pressure and just be another face in the crowd. By being rooted though, you won’t be swayed to the left and to the right into who others want you to be. Instead you can be free to be yourself and who God created you to be. Never forget who you are as you seek to gain new experiences and meet new people. The best you is the authentic you. You don’t have to change to fit in or be different to be liked. Better to have an enemy by being yourself than to have a friend by being someone else. Be yourself. Be rooted.
3) BE BOLD
The truth is no one has ever grown or done great things by playing it safe. You will only be as open and as rooted as your are bold. Be courageous in trying new things and be courageous in sticking to your values and who you are. It’s in this tension where boldness will be needed. By being bold, it might cost you at times, but what you will gain will always be greater.
We here at Pursuit are cheering you on and praying for you. Be open, be rooted, be bold, learn, grow, fail forward, and make the most of college this year!