I know what you’re probably thinking.
I’m going to make this entire post talking about weight loss or gain.
And for a second that’s what I was going to do.
But I’m realizing more and more that your physical well-being encompasses so much more than food/dieting, exercise and your lbs.
Plus, I’ve spent enough posts talking about that, we all get the picture by now.
Recap: I gained over 30 lbs since coming to college, I can never stay consistent, my health issues made things even worse, blah, blah, blah.
If you want the deets, check out The Effects of Stress and My Weight Loss Failures.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…
One of my favorite parts about college was the diversity of how people expressed their physicality.
I’m from Columbia, South Carolina, born and raised, and while I’ve grown to appreciate my city, I can’t ignore the obvious small-mindedness that seems to overtake everything most times.
I have always been a free spirit in wanting to explore different things, different people, different styles, etc.
But you are often looked at as weird when you’re different in the south.
And even though my university was still in South Carolina (in a city even more conservative than Columbia to be honest), college can be so much of a bubble sometimes that even outside norms don’t hold as much weight.
The way I saw students dress, how they wore their hair, how they styled their makeup, it was all so cool.
This was the first time I saw people with pajamas on in the classroom and teachers barefoot with their tattoos showing.
Let me just stop right here and let you upcoming college students in on a secret.
You know how everyone in high school says that college is so much stricter in high school?
They tell you that professors won’t put up with tardiness, that there’s a lot more work, that you must be professional at all times, and whatever other scare tactics they can come up with.
To a certain degree, they are right.
College won’t send you to the Principal’s office for behavior issues or grades, and they won’’t set up meetings with your parents, they’ll just drop you.
Like I said in the first installment of this series, you are the only person responsible for your success or failure once you get to college.
However…
(I feel like this word has become something I say in every post now, smh)
I’ve had a lot of professors show up late countless times, or even just straight up cancel class for no legitimate reason whatsoever.
Of course there are the few that assign work like you have nothing else to do, but most business professors barely give you anything because they have careers outside of teaching and just don’t feel like grading it, especially as you get closer to the end.
They also drop f-bombs like no other.
So, don’t let your teachers scare you away because like I said before, the classes are usually the easiest part of college.
That didn’t really tie directly into today’s topics, but it needed to be said.
Back to scheduled programming!
I saw all sorts of varying hairstyles, Black girls with bright colored hair, White people with dreads, it was crazy.
I’ve seen those things before, but it was considered weird then.
Here, people didn’t blink twice.
And the fashion.
Let’s just have a moment of silence for all the horrendous – I mean expressive outfits I’ve seen in my years on campus from students and staff alike.
On a regular day you could see preppy style, street style, promiscuous style, stoner style, and skater style among others all in one classroom.
Naturally as you moved up in classification, that style narrowed down because of our desired professions.
The style changes to scrubs or blazers and slacks, that sort of thing.
You can ALWAYS spot a Freshman a mile away, though.
They’re usually the ones with the most promiscuous style, trying to show off the fact that they’re “grown”.
It’s hilarious.
College is where I was exposed to experimental makeup.
Before then, I just wore foundation, concealer, mascara, the occasional eyeliner with lipstick or lip gloss on the regular.
But babeeeh, when I discovered pigmented eyeshadows (not those ones with the little sponge applicator at the hair store) and LASHES?!
The game was over for y’all.
I’ve always been glamorous, but I didn’t look the part most times in my K-12 years.
Coming to university is where my Extravagant personality got to be put at the forefront, it’s where I really learned how to properly define and express my physicality.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it’s that feeling good on the outside can be a huge booster for your inner confidence.
It doesn’t fix everything, but neither does looking basic all the time.
If we gone struggle, we gone struggle in style.
And y’all want to know what the best part is?
Even with all the different style preferences, there were so many crossovers when it came to making connections.
Sure, there were some clicks, you’ll never escape those unfortunately.
But you could see the stoner and the prep getting lunch together without judgement.
People who were so different would be the best of friends.
I’m an example of that.
If I look at all the friends I’ve made in college, every single one of them are vastly different from each other and me.
But I’ve found a personal connection with each person, despite our many differences.
So, yea, good physical well-being does mean more than a healthy lifestyle.
You might not be where you want to be on the scale by the time you walk across the stage, but if you’ve made connections with people who look different than you, if you’ve discovered the beautiful art of expressing your true physicality, then you’re a success in my book.
My college years were some of the worst and best years of my life, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
To all my fellow graduates, I know this isn’t how we pictured ending this journey, but we must still hold our heads up high because we persevered through the toughest of times.
Who else can say they got degreed during a worldwide pandemic?!
Wear that badge with honor.
Let me know what you think of the final installment of the Let’s Talk About College Series in the comments below and on our social media pages!
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