There is too much expectation to get the “college experience.” In reality, your college experience is what you want it to be. We are in an awkward transition between children and adults — a time when we’re supposed to find ourselves. But we can not grow if we try to fit in a box that everyone else thinks of as the ideal college life. Society’s idea of the “college experience” presents a microcosm of a bigger issue. Humans associate chaos with excitement and simplicity with failure. However, living a peaceful routine does not mean your life isn’t fulfilling.

Around 1 a.m. Sunday, I realized that I had lost one of my friends. Not lost in the greater sense, but just physically, in that moment, lost. One second, she was by my side at the party we were at, and...