3 Insights from Backwards Facebook Stalking Myself

By Britni Berg on April 21, 2013

Five days from now, after 10:30 a.m. this Thursday to be specific, is the end of my freshman year at college.  Naturally, as any 19-year-old college students would in such a realization, I began to freak out; not a panic attack, but things beginning to get heated internally.

As I was studying/sitting on my laptop this weekend, I decided to reflect my first year of college: backwards Facebook stalking myself.

Facebook doesn’t lie to me. Facebook doesn’t tell me it was unnoticeable that I wore the same high-waisted black skinny jeans for numerous photo-ops in a string of weekends.  Although this Facebook stalking sesh wasn’t to approve or disapprove my past outfit choices, it appears as if a lot of them were going on.  As I Facebook stalked my Freshman year, what I found are:

(1) Dance Floor Make-Outs are Not So Necessary

In Sunday morning’s dining hall, previous night’s festivities buzz more than germs living on our forks. There’s always that one girl bragging to her friends about the guy she hooked up with smack dab in the middle of the dance floor the previous night. Yes, it probably was a better photo-op than the hackneyed high-waisted black skinny jeans (as the number of likes confirms). But what do these bragging rights truly afford her? More respect? More experience? It’s funny that, as she saw one guy walk into the dining hall, she immediately turned her head the other way and tensed up.

(2) Live, But Don’t Regret

People say school sometimes gets in the way of college. And my article about the school libraries confirms my view that, yes, sometimes school must take precedent–whether you’re in a History of Witchcraft or Organic Chemistry class.  But don’t feel as though you have to make up the time lost for studying ASAP. Drinking double, even triple, to make up the previous night’s cram session doesn’t do anything for you. Well, it may, but probably not the desired effects. Don’t regret your decisions by getting caught up in the “stereotypical” college life.

(3) There is No Ideal Route.

This one  really hit me. As I stalked myself, I came across pictures of my best friends from home, friends who are away in different schools now, and wondered why we are on such different agendas. Why do I seem more stressed out? Why do they seem more willing to screw the 9 a.m. classes and call the cab to go out at midnight? Why am I not being a “cool” college kid?

You might think: This is no pity party invitation. It’s the breaking of a mold.  Think about when you first stepped foot on campus, no matter how old you were. There were expectations—or at least you thought: College was about this, college was about that. You must do this. But along the way, you realize there’s no dictator making these rules. Sure, maybe we can blame Hollywood for enforcing the stereotype of blackout college students. It’s not everyone.

There is no mold to fit. College is about creating your own path.

(4) Here’s to New Beginnings 

As I think back to high school, I can identify an uncanny amount of stand-out moments; moments that I sometimes wish to return to. But the biggest realization about such moments hit me, well, 25 seconds ago. Those memories were four years in the making. Things don’t just happen overnight—unless you don’t use protection and, in that case, real changes can happen overnight. But don’t try to fit four years of college life into one small time frame. Don’t set an agenda—you don’t need to plan your dance floor make-out or the night you get that defining bruise on your leg. Because this is four years in the making, and right now, we’re just beginning.

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