You’ve made it.

The boxes are mostly unpacked. The mini-fridge is humming. Your parents have left—or they’re about to. Somewhere between the last trip to the car and your first night in a residence hall, it hits you:

This is real. You’re a Buff now.

And if your stomach is doing that strange little dance somewhere between excitement and nervousness, you’re probably not alone. Thousands of students are arriving on campus, meeting roommates, learning new names and trying to figure out where they fit.

Here’s the most important thing to remember on your first Motivational Monday at CU Boulder:

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

You don’t need the perfect friend group by Friday. You don’t need a four-year plan locked in. You don’t need to join six clubs, choose your forever career or suddenly become someone who has college life completely under control.

You just need to start where you are.

The Boulder Advantage

One of the quiet gifts of attending college in Boulder is that the landscape itself can remind you to slow down.

The Flatirons were here long before move-in weekend, and they’ll be here long after graduation. They don’t care if your first week feels messy. They simply keep rising above campus.

So start small—and start outside.

Take ten or fifteen minutes this week and walk. Cross Farrand Field. Wander through campus. Follow Boulder Creek for a stretch. Look west toward the mountains.

Put your phone away for a few minutes.

Walk. Breathe. Look around.

A short walk outside can give you room to reset when everything around you feels new. Sometimes the best thing you can do when your mind starts racing is simply move your body and reconnect with where you are.

That’s one of the great advantages of being a Buff: Boulder is right outside your door.

Boulder Creek

Show Up—Selectively

CU Boulder’s Fall Welcome runs from August 16–29 this year, with events designed to help new students meet fellow Buffs, faculty and staff and begin finding their place on campus.

Go to some of them.

Attend Welcome to Our Herd: New Student Convocation. Walk through an involvement event. Try a residence hall activity. Introduce yourself to the person sitting beside you, even when doing so feels awkward.

But resist the pressure to do everything.

You don’t need twenty commitments during your first two weeks.

Pick a few things that genuinely interest you and keep showing up.

Friendships rarely appear fully formed during the first weekend of college. More often, they grow from ordinary repetition: sitting near the same person in class, seeing someone at the Rec Center, joining the same club each week or grabbing food with someone from your residence hall.

Belonging takes time.

Give it some.

Use What’s Already Here

You aren’t expected to navigate college entirely on your own.

CU Boulder has built support systems specifically to help students through the academic, social and personal challenges that come with university life.

The Student Recreation Center gives you a place to move and recharge. Professors and teaching assistants have office hours. Academic support is available across campus. And Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) provides CU Boulder students with mental health services, workshops, counseling and other support.

Use these resources before something becomes overwhelming.

Ask the question.

Go to office hours.

Talk to the professor.

Find the tutor.

Reach out when you need support.

College isn’t a test of how much you can handle alone. Learning when and where to ask for help is part of learning how to succeed.

Give Yourself Permission to Be New

College is one of those rare moments in life when thousands of people around you are starting over at essentially the same time.

That shared newness is a gift.

Give yourself a few weeks to find your rhythm. Give everyone else the same opportunity.

The person who becomes one of your closest friends may not be someone you meet during move-in weekend. Your favorite class might be one you haven’t considered yet. The club, professor, trail, coffee shop or corner of campus that eventually makes Boulder feel like home may still be waiting for you.

There is no prize for figuring everything out first.

There is only your experience.

Let it unfold.

And while you’re discovering your new home, explore more of what makes this place special with the AboutBoulder CU Boulder Freshman Survival Guide.

Start Where You Are

For this first week, keep it simple.

Step outside.

Look at the Flatirons.

Show up to a few things that genuinely interest you.

Introduce yourself to somebody new.

Use the resources around you.

Call home if you want to.

And give yourself the same patience you would give a friend who was beginning something this big.

You don’t have to know exactly who you’ll become during the next four years.

That’s part of why you’re here.

Today, all you have to do is begin.

Welcome to the herd.

Now start where you are.

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