While in line at Subway with a troubled sophomore friend the other day, I realized something that has become quite a phenomenon for college students. Disgruntled, he said he was close to quitting his major, changing his look, kicking his cigarette habit and joining the Army.

Welcome to the mid-college crisis.

I don’t know if things have always been this way — now that I’m into senior year, or what I like to call the Rob Gindes Victory Lap, I’ve stopped doing any semblance of research — but it seems, under the immense pressure we put on ourselves, a lot of us have begun to crack a little, normally sometime between spring of freshman year and fall of junior year.

It’s the combination of having so many freedoms and being so close to the point where we have to start making a life for ourselves that scares so many of us, because, let’s be honest, most of us are really still just big kids who aren’t ready to deal with life. Life scares the hell out of me, and I’m awesome. I can only imagine what it does to you mere mortals.

When I was a sophomore, I almost dropped out of school entirely. I reached that point where I hated most people I knew, I was disenchanted with my major, and I just didn’t want to be at the university anymore. But I somehow got through it, mostly with the assistance of hard, hallucinogenic drug use.

A lot of people transfer schools or change their majors. And for a lot of people, it’s the right choice. But the pressure is just too much right now for a lot of kids who would otherwise be thriving because it’s coming from all sides. For the first time, we’re supposed to be responding like grown-ups. Well, I say wah. Wah. Wahhhh.

It’s just the nature of the beast. But you wouldn’t be in college if you weren’t, like, among the smartest people who have the available resources to even go to college. Just think about that, dude. Go out and use those resources.

So, my little chickadees and chickadoos (I suppose those are male chickadees), don’t fret. If you just have a little faith in yourself, you can find your niche. For instance, if you’re a chubby introvert who’s shy in public, maybe one day you could rise to be the opinion editor at the student newspaper, cracking snarky columns off about that jerk, Student Government Association President Steve Glickman. I believe that once-introverted person is now living what’s known as “the American dream.”

For people like my friend, I hope you stick it out. This kid is a real talent at what he does, and so are a lot of people who start to question themselves. He’s good at what he does. Like, really, really good. And so are so many of you little chickadees/doos.

I guess it’s taken me until I’m almost out of college to really take all the stuff I learned in kindergarten to heart: Believe in yourself. Hang in there. Try your best. Don’t eat too much candy.

And my friend — you know who you are — really think about it, man. Don’t change what you do, what you look like or anything about yourself.

Well, I guess you’d be well-served  quitting the cigarettes.

Rob Gindes is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at gindes at umdbk dot com.