Spring Doubts

Sometimes I feel that I’m missing out on a huge part of college by not going to parties and clubs every weekend. I’ve made a choice to not drink based on a number of different reasons. Of course I’ve had a few drinks in my life—at a wedding, a summer party at our house—but it just doesn’t interest me to get drunk every weekend.

When I interviewed to be a Resident Assistant, I told them that I would like to be the Wellness RA. I explained that it is my choice to live the Wellness lifestyle anyway, and that I think I could help my residents understand their choices to be substance free. Here I am now a year later, and I still stick true to what I believe. But there’s a part in the back of my head that questions whether or not I’m missing out. I see so many pictures of “last night” and all the smiles on everyone’s faces. Most of my weekends include staying in, playing games, or just hanging out with my residents.

It’s not because I don’t want to drink because I’m underage—living at college, I feel like age doesn’t even matter when it comes to alcohol. Everyone can get it if they want to. I think it’s more of the degree that college students do drink. Not many people are satisfied with having one drink in a social situation. One drink turns into three or four and that’s when things get out of hand.

While the sororities here don’t promote drinking and parties, it’s an inevitable part of Greek life. Obviously where there is a large group of college students bored on a Friday or Saturday night, there will be partying. Sometimes I think that I didn’t get to bond properly with my sisters because most of the bonding was done at parties that I didn’t care to attend.

One of the major reasons I don’t really drink is because I want to REMEMBER the things I do. The scariest thing to hear about is people that don’t remember what they did the night before. I can’t imagine losing that much control. But I do understand that you can be safe and still have a great time. Just as an RA and living on this specific campus, it’s sometimes hard to remember that.

However, a weekend like I just had has proved to me that it’s possible to have fun without facing it in a drunken stupor. My staff is full of awesome people, and we know how to have a great time without getting wasted. Singing karaoke and hosting spontaneous talent shows are just a couple ways we entertain ourselves. Weekends like this reaffirm my decision to be substance free. I’m sure most of the people that go to my school will probably read this and look at me funny, but I’m glad I’m able to be firm in what I believe in. I hope my residents can see this in me, and I hope that I make it easier for them to stay true to their values as well.