Since I love you all, I’m going to share with you some of the most important quotes by arguably the most gifted writer to have ever lived: Kurt Vonnegut. If you can look past the vulgarities in his writing, you can see he truly has a gift to make the reader think in ways they’ve never thought before. And he always makes sure to include an amazing life lesson. Here are some of my favorites:

Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be. It’s important for us all to remember it is our actions alone that determine who we are. The “I would have…” “I should have…” excuses are just blowing hot air. Bottom line is: you didn’t. What you see is what you get. What you do is who you are.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Everything is worth a try. Even if you end up failing, you will end up having gained some type of knowledge, contacts or experience. Life can be both tough and beautiful, so you need to take it for all you can.

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times something downright horrible has happened and I just exploded in laughter. The most recent example happened about a week ago. I was forced out of my apartment for a week because I had a leak in the bathroom area. It was a huge deal and some major repairs had to be done. Just after moving back in, I opened the cabinet to start putting my stuff away, and sure enough the sink was leaking. I busted out laughing. After everything I had to go through in the past week, the sink still leaks!

I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’ Far too often people are too occupied with the stresses of their lives. Whether you are running late to work, quickly failing out of your chemistry class or your bank account is reading in the negatives, these things will surely pass. My mama always told me, “If you won’t remember this a year from now, it’s not worth stressing over now.” And she’s right. The more you think in terms of the big picture, the happier and less stressed you will be.

Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God. Has there ever been in a time in your life where things just seemed to fall into place? Have you noticed any overwhelming coincidences? This is what Vonnegut considers to be dancing lessons from God. Embrace, enjoy and recognize the random moments and choices that can lead to beautiful, life-changing events.

So it goes. There are things that are simply out of our hands, so we must accept them as such. We are fools if we believe we have control over all aspects of our life. Whether you were late to class, forgot about a quiz or anything else, it happened and there’s nothing you can do to change it. So learn something from it and keep on.

College is about more than learning about your major and taking those dreadful GEP and PE requirements. College is the place where you can learn about who you are and what makes you, you. Take it for all it is and know that no matter how tough things get, you’ll make it through.