Dear Kid,

College is a time of change.

Life is a time of change, but college is a time of ultra-change.

First Attempt In Learning. DearKidLoveMom.comSometimes change can be exciting, a time of moving forward, tasting new experiences, refining who you are.

Sometimes change can be sad, a sense of loss, an emptiness when a friend or activity vanishes.

Sometimes change can feel somewhat defeating. Sometimes change can feel overwhelming. Sometimes change can feel like failure.

Changing your mind can be hard. Changing your major, changing your friendships, changing your goals can be freeing—or paralyzing. (Or sometimes both at the same time.)

But change and failure are not the same.

Failure is only failure if you allow it to defeat you. If you crawl under a rock and refuse to come out. It does not need to be permanent. It does not need to be anything other than a first try. Or a second. Or a third.

As an (extremely) wise man once said, “Change is not always better, but better is always a change.”

Effort Never Dies. DearKidLoveMom.comChange is just different. In college, you get to think of change as trying something new. Hopefully, you get to carry that perspective with you your entire life.

FAIL–First Attempt In Learning.

END–Effort Never Dies.

Keep going. Keep trying. Keep changing when you need to or want to. Keep meeting new people and tasting new foods. Keep true to yourself while stretching your wings. Keep in touch.

Love, Mom