The Semester We Stopped Pretending

There’s something about university life that makes everyone an actor.

We wake up every day, wear confidence like perfume, and walk around campus pretending we have it all figured out. But deep down, most of us are just trying to survive one lecture, one assignment, one heartbreak at a time.

I remember the semester everything changed for me. It was my second year—supposedly the point where you already know how the system works. But that was the semester reality hit hard.

Classes felt heavier, deadlines became closer, and my motivation quietly packed its bags and left.

I would wake up every morning, rush to class with half-finished assignments, and sit among people who looked like they had their lives together. The girls had perfect notes, the guys seemed unbothered, and I was there silently questioning if I even belonged.
 

Then came the group project. You know the one where you end up doing most of the work while everyone else “agrees” on WhatsApp. That project broke me. I spent nights in the library, tired, frustrated, yet too scared to quit.

But something happened one night that changed everything.

It was 8:40p.m., and the library was almost empty. Across the table, a girl I barely knew sighed loudly and whispered, “I’m tired of this life.”

We both laughed, the kind of laugh that comes from exhaustion. And just like that, we started talking. About stress, fear, the pressure to be perfect. About how our parents called every weekend asking about grades, unaware that we hadn’t eaten real food in days. 
 

That night, I realized nobody really had it all together.

We were all just pretending.

After that, I stopped chasing perfection. I started being real with myself and with others. If I didn’t understand a topic, I asked. If I was tired, I rested. If I was broke, I stopped pretending I wasn’t.

University didn’t suddenly get easier. But it became more human. I made friends who didn’t compete with me, I failed one test and still survived, and I learned that growth isn’t always loud or glamorous—sometimes it’s just the quiet decision to keep showing up.

Now, when I walk around campus and see people rushing, smiling, struggling I smile too. Because I know behind every confident walk is someone just trying their best.

So, to every student feeling overwhelmed: you’re not alone.

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

You just have to keep showing up, one messy, imperfect day at a time.

Because one day, you’ll look back and realize that the version of you who almost gave up—that was the version who grew the most.