Fall brings changes to more than just weather

First and foremost, I want to welcome back all my returning readers. I hope your summer was filled with Uggs and shorts. To my new readers: you weren’t supposed to understand that last sentence. Please don’t feel bad, I’ll include you in my sarcastic comments from here on out. With that being said, to those of you that don’t know me and/or the nature of this column, I’ll break it down in two sentences: This column is a way for me to write about things going on in my life and make them non-specific enough to the point where you can relate to them. Thus, by suggesting intellectual thoughts to my readers, they tend to stray away from checking me into a mental hospital and instead focus on how their “reader voice” just made them eat a tub of ice cream and watch “P.S. I Love You” while crying on the couch. It’s a beautiful thing.

An even more beautiful thing is the change from summer to fall.  For those of you that just rolled your eyes at that last sentence I bring this next point to your attention: football pants. Feel free to tell me I’m right at any time throughout the day.

Another upside to fall? Clothes that fit normal sized people are back, not to mention clothes that don’t require you to shave your legs every three hours. To that, I say Amen.

With each start of the fall semester there are multiple changes for each student. No matter the age or grade there are certain things that are hard to face. Whether it’s saying goodbye to the home you’ve known for 18 years, or facing the transfer or graduation of good friends, learning to adjust is a process. Just like the first day you realize you need a jacket instead of flip-flops or even worse – snow boots instead of tanning lotion, we as people, are constantly undergoing change.

Some changes are for the better, some are for the worst. However, the most important thing is not how long you can avoid change, but instead how well you learn to adjust to that change and who you are when you come out of the situation. Being able to fall is easy; learning how to get back up is what builds character.

My advice to the freshman: make mistakes. If you can honestly say you didn’t make a single mistake your freshman year of college, I advise you to get out from under the rock you’ve been living under and go run a marathon in brand new Sperry Top Sider Boat Shoes (returning readers, that was for you). That, my friend, is a mistake your parents won’t have to find out about at two in the morning. However, once a mistake is made – learn from it. Grow from it. You wouldn’t wear flip flops in a snow storm more than once, would you?! If you would, then your opinion doesn’t matter to me, or anyone else for that matter.

To my fellow peers, I wish you the best this school year. I wish you more positive changes than negative ones, and most of all I wish for a win over Pueblo. Make this fall the biggest rise of life.