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I have certainly changed as a person since coming to college, and I do not believe it is entirely for the better (naturally this implies that some parts have improved such as independence, general depth of knowledge, and physical strength, whereas other parts have faltered such as socialization and emotional investment in others). I've done a bit of introspection and subsequent research about how my feelings and actions have changed, and what those changes seem to reflect, and so far I think I've come up with two main things.

1. I've forgotten how to be brave, and how to be stupid. I remember clearly having the courage to sit down next to random people and talk to them, and that ability seems to have faded somewhat. I'm able to do that at the gym or during club meets, but flagging someone down in a public eatery or whatnot has faded to essentially nothing. I believe the reason for this is because I'm unable to find a conversation thread to follow whereas in the gym or at a club there's already a theme available. I attribute this to an inability to think creatively on my feet. That will require attention.

2. I've forgotten how to see the good things in myself. I've been analyzing my thought process and how that can be improved, but I believe it has come at a cost where I've lost track of the quality of the thoughts and emotions are. I am perfectly happy, however I've been picking at my flaws, those that manifest physically, emotionally, socially, logically, and whatnot thus causing an imbalance between comfort and meta-cognition/self improvement. Therefore it will be vital for me to come to terms with what I know and how I act so that I can recognize where I stand in relation to my peers, and thus improve based on their feedback.

One large issue that I will likely encounter during this experiment will be breaking habits; for example I believe I have been treating my peers and friends sub-par, so I will work to improve this and become a kinder person to them. I am not ready to forgive my parents yet for their parenting job, however that will come in time as I develop myself by myself.

I believe a good way to improve both of these problems will be to flirt more as that will force me to be brave and go out to try new things and face the social anxiety I seemed to have developed (as a byproduct of being (fantastic) friends with other socially inept people... Best friends I've ever had though. If you get the chance to be friends with such types, I would recommend it). This flirting would also require me to be able to carry a good conversation and force me to focus on my good qualities rather than those that I struggle with.

As an addendum, I discovered this interesting thing a little while ago that during high school and below, I had two very different personalities, one at home, and one not at home. The reason for this seems to be that I did not feel welcome at home, so I had clammed up and focused on developing my mental abilities and controlling my hormonal self while at home, and I was generally more social and outgoing while at school or just away from home in general (still very much a geek however). Since coming to college, these two personalities seemed to have meshed and I have been dealing with the weird shifts between excessive boldness and excessive shyness. I am hoping now that I recognize the problems I will be able to restore inner balance and I can utilize my emotions and thoughts more effectively to get what I want (improving pathos especially). This emotional development may lead to a slight and theoretically temporary stagnation of mental development, but perhaps that will be for the best.