Learning How to Maintain Faith On Your Own

Before coming to college, I went to mass nearly every Sunday with my family and it seemed very normal to me, considering I grew up in a Christian home and went to a private Catholic high school. When I came to college, my first semester started and I was very busy. That being said, I could’ve found the time and prioritized myself to fit an hour a week into my schedule to go to mass, but I never did. My parents came up one weekend for my birthday in September and took me to mass. I remember feeling emotional and almost guilty for not having gone to mass earlier in college. Soon after that I was back home for fall break, thanksgiving, and winter break, and each Sunday during those breaks I was sure to go to mass with my family. During these breaks I realized that it wasn’t that I couldn't make time to go to mass, but that I did not like going by myself. Maintaining faith on your own is difficult.That being said, I don’t feel like my spirituality or my overall relationship with God has decreased in quality but I don’t think it is growing like it was before college. For a long time I have believed that you don’t need to go to church to be a good person or even a good Christian, but it does give you direction in your relationship with God.This thought has led me to talking to God more. I do practice faith in college, most nights right before I go to bed, I think the only “struggle” I have had with my faith is that I don’t go to mass nearly as often as I should, but this doesn’t make my relationship and my faith any less important to me, and it makes the times I go to mass with my family more special and allows me to treasure those times.

Sydney Tepe (Freshman)- The Ohio State University