Was college the best time of your life?

I used to think that, but I'm much older now, and can do whatever I want.

Looking at my lifestyle, diet, and genetics, I'm likely to last another couple dozen years. College was fun, sure, but no complaints - yet!

No. Many periods of my life since college have been better. And I liked college.

Nah. It was fun, but it's more gratifying to make something of yourself and shoulder big responsibilities. As long as you can do that and have a somewhat balanced life too with family + friends+ running, you should continue to have your best years for decades!

No. Grad school was better, even.

High school was better than college for me.

Yes. Travel, booze (when training allowed), and girls. Minimal responsibility.

However, real life is more fulfilling. Hard work to accomplish something tangible over a longer period of time. More meaningful relationships (especially children).

Honestly, I feel like most people struggle the first year or two out of college. Real life is a punch in the nuts. You basically have to learn how to be an adult. Once you do that, though, it’s pretty good. Takes a good year or two.

I'm 33 now. I pursued running for a couple years after college and started enjoying it again and performing better. That made running more fun then having disappointing performances half the time in college. Less pressure than college. A few of the best times of my life happened in college but some more happened after college. I definitely miss my college teammates and the parties we had with hot girls all around but I could still have some fun with clubs and parties post college. It is easy to take the good times in college for granted though, remember that and enjoy the college experiences.

Now I've been to some weddings which are usually fun and have had some very enjoyable nights with friends and dates and hookups post college. I enjoy the freedom of doing what I want, driving around amdnfinding entertainment and enjoying either with myself which is relaxing or with friends on occasion. I dont go out every weekend like in college when that was always an option. I pick and choose when I want to have a good time and dont need one every Saturday night. Your life is up to you. You decide what to do, where to do it and who to do it with. Life after college can be the best time of your life but do not take the college moments for granted because they will have great memories that last forever.

For me, yes. I LOVED college. I had tons of friends, loved school (and was good at it). Also had SO much free time. There was always something fun to do and people willing to spontaneously go party.

Now I’m late 30s with little kids. If I’m not working, I’m doing housework or kid stuff. I never sleep in. On rare occasions I get babysitters and go out and attend an adult party, but I’m usually tired early.

Adulting wears you down. I’d like to think I’ll get more freedom down the line when the kids are older and less needy.

I feel like post-grad life is just different. It is easier to fall into not doing things, making friends, and memories as these things are just not as accessible. I quickly realized that I was very lucky to have went to grad school which maintains some built-in social stuff and a university feel. The regular working "working world" could be quite depressing especially if in a city with no friends.

I think a big part of these feelings is that the 'meaning' of life was pretty clear through college so you could focus on all these good things. Now one has to struggle with making meaning in a way conducive to friends, hobbies, work, family, etc.

The key here, I think, is recognizing that as much as there are outlets in place to help one find some sort of meaning, there are just as many opportunities to do these things yourself. Projects, however dumb they may seem, like building something, diving into some subject you never got the chance to study in college, trying to get some sort of group off the ground with one of your interests, fleshing out ideas you've been wanting to explore, are a good way to explore this space. If you can get something off the ground yourself then maybe it will take flight?

I miss my friends from undergrad a ton, the running experiences, the perceived 'openness' of the future... but I guess that was another life, right? These parts of college I'm a bit sad I'll never get back. Maybe this biggest thing for me was accepting that there will be no going back, that that was another life and perhaps another you, and now you have to build up this new life as you had before (while still, of course, being guided by memories from all previous).

Another useful thing for me was remembering all the bad times in college: how my first 2 years I struggled to feel like I had any real friends/couldn't connect with anyone, some serious financial stresses, and many more. Maybe you didn't have the same experience, but recall the struggle and failures too. Starting a new life should take time, trial, and error - ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny (kinda)

My roommate is pretty certain that his best years were in undergrad. It's very sad to see someone already writing off the rest of their years as subpar. It's better to shoot for stars and end up on the moon than to shoot for HRC's cabinet and end up in Trump's white house (or something like this...not sure what I'm getting at)

As you can tell, I'm mainly using this as an outlet to come to terms with my own thoughts on this, and I recommend you do the same with these thoughts and other.

I went for a year and it was hands-down the worst time of my life. It is difficult to imagine a more unpleasant situation. I still think about every day. It was the biggest mistake I ever made. I would, however recommend it to my worst enemies.

I met my wife one week after I graduated college. So college was kinda cool but meeting the love of my life was much cooler.

What I do regret is not traveling and running more before we had kids. When you have babies your whole perception of “free time” changes.

Was definitely the best time for running, but 30s and 40s are way better for the rest of life. Career and family are sorted out, not stressed about money, can pretty much do what I want when I want. Not a bad deal. Not as fast as I was in my college years and don't have as much time to train though, so there's that.

Post-Grad Blues wrote:

1 year out of college and I'm starting to worry that this might be the case. I'm starting to realize that friends, socializing, college running, etc > Having more money

College was the best time of my life. I wonder if I'd still think that if I picked a major that led to a more lucrative/easier job, done an internship, etc. I had no money in college. After grad school, I even had to sell all my books at a used bookstore to get money for gas while waiting for my first paycheck. During my masters, I even had to work a little bit because my savings from summer jobs had gotten so low. Yet despite that, I enjoyed it a lot more. Living near campus is almost always better for running than living out in sprawling suburbs. People were more interesting, they cared about interesting things outside of work. There was always something to do and new people to meet. Oh and in running, the races seemed to have much higher stakes.

Post-Grad Blues wrote:

1 year out of college and I'm starting to worry that this might be the case. I'm starting to realize that friends, socializing, college running, etc > Having more money

What I loved about college was living in the moment, training my ass off, enjoying the bubble we lived in on campus with all my teammates.

Do I want that now? Not really. I still want to train and run, but it's been much more rewarding to coach kids like me.

college was freaking awesome. i had the time of my life during those years.

im still having the time of my life post-graduation. it took a while to adjust, but the train is rolling again!

Post-Grad Blues wrote:

1 year out of college and I'm starting to worry that this might be the case. I'm starting to realize that friends, socializing, college running, etc > Having more money

You can't hang on to the past. Those college friends of yours will all eventually get jobs and get married, and the wouldn't want to sit around and shoot the BS that college kids do. Grow up, make money, and have adult fun. Lots of ways to socialize after college. Join a running group or do any other number of things that adults get together to do. Lame to yearn for the past.

No. It was, more or less, hell. But I did learn stuff.

It’s quite easy to summarize all this here.

After college It is better as you are not broke and can go out and not worry about running out of $$$$, as long as your work is stable.

Kids ruin everything. Everyone hates their life with kids, they just feel guilty saying this. Don’t fall into that trap of misery loves company. Your freedom is gone and you return to being broke. Just never have kids and you’ll be free and have plenty of $$$ .

Oh and find a modest place in California where you can run year round and have access to fine ladies.

And don’t let your girl get fat. Not acceptable under any circumstance.

It was the best time at that time. Each decade has it's ups and downs. Luckily for me there has always been things to look forward to. I hope to keep it that way. I stay active both running and cycling but not like I did back in college. I just want to stay medically healthy and keep the ravages of time as far away as possible.