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" Looking back on freshman year, I really felt like I didn&amp;#039;t change much. It was everything I expected: New school, harder classes and daily commuting. But after awhile, I began to see what a difference this year has made. My brother just graduated from eighth grade today. As I sat through the ceremony, I remembered when I once sat in those seats, awaiting my turn to finally become a high school student. And now, as a college student...What am I looking forward to becoming? Every year in high school, it was looking forward to moving up, like becoming an eighth grader or a senior. Well, in college, I&amp;#039;m looking forward to becoming myself. If it&amp;#039;s one thing I&amp;#039;ve learned this year, it&amp;#039;s that you, yourself, are the key to everything. You determine how the day will turn out, you determine if you&amp;#039;ll go to class, you determine if you will let people disappoint you. YOU determine your happiness! Yes, your friends will disappoint you. You may fail a test. You may encounter some negative situations. While you can&amp;#039;t change what happened, you can change your mood! Watch a funny Youtube video, read your favorite book, or call a friend you haven&amp;#039;t seen in awhile. There is so much you can do to break away from what makes you feel bad! I&amp;#039;ve struggled a lot this year with being too dependent on people in my life. Whenever something disappointed me or made me upset, I expected an apology and someone to comfort me, but it never really came. &amp;quot;Why?&amp;quot; I would ask myself. &amp;quot;Why am I still disappointed? Why am I still unhappy?&amp;quot; Even with the apologies and comfort, I still felt empty. It was quite simple, really. It was because of me. I expected all of this comfort from others, when I didn&amp;#039;t even give it to myself. I&amp;#039;ll be honest, I still struggle with this very often and I know I will in the future. But I&amp;#039;ve learned to take a step back every once in awhile and realize that I don&amp;#039;t have to feel this way. No one is forcing me to go to school or write these blog posts. No one is forcing me to stay upset. I have a choice to be whatever I want. And I&amp;#039;m looking forward to becoming me, and only me. Don&amp;#039;t forget that your freshman year is what YOU make it to be! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a20788/take-charge-of-your-feelings/>