After five years in college, I’m finally going to get that degree in marketing. All that hard work and pressure shall finally end…And would pave way for a new batch of obstacles; unemployment’s probably one of them.
Entry into college was pretty hard for me. I had to make new friends who could also keep pace with my interests (number: zero). There are a few things back then in my first year which I could have done, and I could probably list them down below—that those entering college might learn from my “mistakes” and do what I did not do. Here we go.
First: I could have joined a local campus ministry
Studying in a Catholic university, I could have joined in to grow in the spirit as a Christian, along with others. There are a number of youth ministries which exist within colleges, mostly in sectarian schools. These may range from the ascetical to the charismatic.
I was only able to join in during my second year, and that was in a certain charismatic community which I was already part of, but have been inactive following my entry into the university. (I knew there was an existing chapter, but I couldn’t find them.)
Seriously, entering one could have done me some good back then, as a seventeen-year-old.
Second: I could have attended Masses regularly
Truth be told, I seldom went to Mass. There was a chapel inside the university where the chaplain would celebrate Masses every single day. Near the school, there was also a church with Masses every hour. Given that, I still did not find time to attend Masses, even on days of obligation. Pretty bad idea—contributed the most to my intense spiritual dryness. I did not have the body and blood of Jesus in me.
I really had no idea for the most part how grace worked through the sacraments those days, so I did not exactly get the core significance of the liturgy, which was quite a shame for someone who was a “youth leader” in high school—where I also did a terrible job of being one.
Third: I could have avoided trying to fit in with the “crazy” bunch
What does this mean? This means that I could not have tried fitting in with the guys who I assumed could get the girls and have all the fun driving fast cars and drinking out. When during those times I hung out with these people, I felt that I was “in,” it turned out that I really wasn’t.
Aside from the fact that I was not the sporty type and I didn’t have a thing for fancy cars, the hedonistic lifestyle that these people adopted certainly wasn’t doing me any good at all, the drinking and stuff. (And for the record, I did not get any girls—for a good reason.) Fitting in with whom you think are “cool” doesn’t really do well when you’re studying for a degree.
Which brings us to the …
Fourth: I could have learned that it’s okay to be alone at school
Following the third point, I realized that college—in my opinion anyway—does not really mean you’d have to belong to a certain group, like in high school. There are no jocks or geeks or cheerleaders in college. You’d have to deal with everyone and for the most part, it’d only be for academic reasons and stuff.
Perhaps from there, friendship may develop later on, but one shouldn’t expect that it’d be like in high school—in college, a person actually learns to be independent and street-smart. That’d be a preparation before entering the corporate environment.
Fifth: I could have at least prayed
Yeah—clichéd, I know. I seldom found time to pray back then. I spent most of my time playing videogames, “studying,” sleeping in, practicing some guitar riffs, learning different arpeggio patterns etc., yet I never really thought of having a regular prayer time. I only prayed when I was desperate.
I guess if I simply prayed, that would have been my first step back then to returning to the fold (not that I really left at all) but I didn’t, despite the fact that I did not have any excuse to not pray at all. I also found it quite futile because I had doubts that God could actually hear my prayers, as my first year in college was a long period of what St. John of the Cross described as, “the dark night of the soul,” which is also the title of his famous work.
I guess I’ll end with that, and I’m pretty sure there are some of you here who has had similar stuff which they could have done in their first year in college. Perhaps you might want to share to others what you could have done in the comment box below! So, leave some comments!
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