Company Blog

Freshman Fears

by Adam Zack — October 16, 2024

One way to make things easier for the “freshmen in life” is to be the mentor you wish you had.

I remember right before my freshman year of high school, my friend—who was a seasoned sophomore by then—painted a picture of high school that sounded like a mix between a horror movie and a survival guide for the Hunger Games. Freshmen, according to him, ranked somewhere between roadkill and the stuff stuck to the bottom of your shoe in the high school hierarchy. He warned me never to sit in the sacred “Senior Square,” never make eye contact with an upperclassman, and definitely don’t do anything to stand out unless I wanted to get pummeled by a dude with a patchy mustache. Oh, and forget about talking to girls—they were all way out of my league. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t nearly that bad.

That fear of the unknown creeps in every time we level up—whether it’s moving to a new school, a new job, or a new phase in life. I think we tend to look at college seniors (and high school seniors for those skipping the whole college thing) like they’ve made it. They’ve hit the finish line and are ready to tackle life like they’ve got it all figured out. But let’s be real, graduating is just trading one kind of freshman status for another. You’re not walking into glory; you’re just the new kid at the grown-up table.

Starting a new job or a career feels a lot like freshman year all over again. You may not be dodging wedgies or avoiding the wrath of someone with a questionable beard, but the jitters are real. And for those parents who forked over thousands for education, yeah, their expectations are sky-high, which doesn’t exactly ease the pressure.

Every time you switch careers, it’s like hitting the reset button, and suddenly, you’re back to being the newbie. No matter how far along you are in life, that “freshman” feeling never fully goes away. The difference? You’re (hopefully) not getting picked on this time around.

One way to make things easier for the “freshmen in life” is to be the mentor you wish you had. Help them find their footing, show them the ropes, and for the love of everything holy, let’s leave wedgies out of it, alright?