The conventional wisdom is that the college years are the best years of your life. In many ways, that’s true. Assuming you’re lucky enough to have parents willing to foot the bill, you have the freedom of living away from home – and the parental scrutiny that goes with it – minus the hassle of paying for it. Without the burden of worrying how you’ll pay rent or where your next meal is coming from, life is totally carefree and full of possibilities. 

The problem with this scenario is that while there are plenty of lighthearted and fun aspects to the college years, there are also some serious expectations.  Between the tender ages of 18 and 22, you’re expected to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life.

Those of us well beyond the college years make it seem easy: Take a bunch of different courses until something strikes your fancy! Do what you love and the money will follow! But what happens if you don’t know what you love or you dabble in different courses but still have no clue as to the direction you want to take when it’s time to declare your major after just two years in college?

No wonder why college kids party all the time. They have to get good and drunk in order to forget the fact that they are at a pivotal moment in their lives. They’re essentially buying – or asking their parents to buy – what will probably turn out to be the most expensive thing they’ll ever purchase (apart from a house) and they’re not even sure what they’ll be getting for their money! If they’re unsure and change direction too many times, it will cost even more.

So we should all tell our kids: Have fun at those football games, fraternity parties, and bars. As you stumble home in the wee hours of the morning, try not to think about the fact that you have no idea where you’ll be living in a couple of years (please don’t let it be my basement), much less how you’ll pay for it. Drink up! And by the way, welcome to adulthood.