[dropcap]S[/dropcap]aying yes to things can feel like an insurmountable challenge when you are overwhelmed, but there is no better time to embrace the importance of yes than the start of college.
In a huge time of flux, staying in your comfortable safety bubble can be all too easy. Broadening your horizons and saying yes to events and activities that may intimidate you can feel impossible.
However, when you are comfortable and stagnant, you’re not growing and developing.
It might seem easier to avoid all of the new people and experiences, choosing instead to stay within the close confinements of the box room for which you are overpaying. If only the easiest option was the most beneficial.
Be logical and make a risk-benefit analysis of whatever activities you are saying yes to, but if it’s something as simple as going for a drink with people from your course or heading on that night out even if the outside world scares you, just do it.
Society events are another way to push yourself to say yes. Attend alone and chat to whoever takes the seat beside you. Go wild.
There is no time more important in your college years in which to say yes than in the first few months.
This is the time when everyone is the most open to friendships, groups have not yet been formed and most people are willing to have a chat with pretty much anyone who crosses their path. Rejection begone, talk to anyone and everyone and don’t get disheartened if you say yes to one event and it doesn’t work out.
There is no point spending your life indoors every evening. There will be plenty of time for that when you are retired, hopefully financially secure and accompanied by your two dogs.
These formative college years are for living, regretting and ultimately, saying yes. You never know what can arise out of saying yes to an opportunity.
It will not always be good, of course. There will be times where you find yourself in a tiny Larkfield bedroom crammed to the gills with 20 others gasping for air. It’s all part of the formative journey towards a better life and will leave you wiser.
Well, wiser may be the wrong word to use but it will certainly impact your life in some way. The importance of yes cannot be ignored.
Orla Dwyer
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