Fear

The fear of the unknown is powerful. It can cause you to do what is necessary to succeed, or cause you to shut down and run. It's good old flight or fight that I'm talking about. 

Why am I talking about fear on a blog that's supposed to be about college? Because fear is one of the biggest obstacles you'll have to conquer in college, especially if you are a first-generation college student.  Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of your own power and potential. 

But the message of today's blog is to encourage you to push past the fear. To go for it- to try it anyways. 

And I think that's a message that a lot of students, especially high school students, don't hear. 

The other night, I was facilitating a workshop  and I happened to ask how many people were scared of college, and the conversation took off. Think about it. How many of you have heard "college isn't like high school"? How many of you know of atleast one person who went off to college and had to come home? 

College isn't a gladiator battle of intelligence, it's a process through which an indivudal (you) find the ability to confront an obstacle and overcome it. And the secret to being sucessful is realizing that you've already faced a gazillion challenges and have overcome them (at least enough to progress forward). And that's the honest, yet simple, truth. 

Take it from someone who has first-hand experience, and has literally advised hundreds of students: take the mountain (college) and break it up into smaller pieces (pieces or instances where you you make the best choice possible). 

It's about changing your  way of thinking and how you approach the situation, and this takes time and practice. And as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. 

At the end of the day, take stock of all the things you have accomplished in spite of fear. Asking someone out, running for student government, trying out for the team, etc. 

If fear didn't stop you then, why should it now?