There are nearly infinite reasons people choose to attend college, but one common thread connecting all students is that they choose to invest in higher education because it will help them achieve their goals. Whether that goal is a good-paying job, a particular career or just to keep the parents off their back, college is a building block to accomplish something else.

 While most students consider college a means to an end, for many that end is still undetermined. They’re here at college to find out what they want to spend their life doing. College is a time of discovery, experimentation and growth.

 But with laying a foundation for your future comes a great deal of pressure to get it right, and whether you’ve got your life plan written in that Moleskin journal that you’ve had since third grade or feel as lost as Tom Hanks without a volleyball, don’t freak out.

 Odds are, the major to which you’re currently committed will change. The career path you choose in college very well might change after you graduate. The long-term plans you have now will seem laughable 10 years down the road.

 Change is inevitable, and understanding that takes a little bit of the pressure off of you. Know the future is out of your control. Use this time in college to explore what it means to be you. The fact the preceding sentence might be the most cliché thing ever printed is not lost on me, but it is true. Doing things you’ve never done is the only way to experiencing things you’ve never seen.

 Don’t let the pressure of the future hold you back in the present. Step out there and try things that might be difficult. “It’s hard” is never a reason not to do something. And failing is not always a failure.  If you never fail in life, you aren’t trying hard enough. If everything is easy, you’re being lazy. And in college there is absolutely no reason to be lazy.

 For most, college is a time of limited responsibility and independence. From here on out people will pile more and more on your plate. Family responsibilities, career, taxes, illness and worry are the vegetables of life. They’ll eventually find their way to our plates. But with an empty plate and an open mind, college can be one of the single most defining experiences in a person’s life.

 Step out on the edge and take a risk. Be curious enough to discover the opportunities that are around you and brave enough to take advantage of them.