There’s a lot happening in the world of college admissions, with some seemingly big changes coming down the pike. The SAT is changing. Eighty selective colleges have proposed a “Coalition Application” that would require applicants to begin creating online portfolios as early as 9th grade. And just this week, more than 50 colleges, including all of the Ivy League schools, are supporting a proposal to change their admissions practices by deemphasizing AP courses, test scores, and activities, and instead evaluating more personal factors like kindness, love of learning, and family responsibilities.

It’s being treated as big, breaking news in some circles. But I’ve yet to write about any of those topics here for two reasons—I think college admissions should be enjoyable, and I’ve got the power of age-induced perspective on my side.

In his book, The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, Dr. Amit Sood, a professor of medicine, describes why the elderly are among the happiest people on earth. They’ve seen it all. They aren’t surprised when people behave badly or when things go wrong. They’re conscious of the need to make the most of each day. And most importantly, they know how to let things go that ultimately just aren’t that important. They’ve got age-induced perspective (my term) on their side.

I’m not elderly (yet).  But I’ve been at this long enough to have developed an elderly-like sense of calm, panic-free perspective around the admissions process.

During my 20+ year career working in some sector of college admissions (a career that began with my first job out of college), the SAT has changed several times—twice with completely new scoring ranges. Colleges began accepting online applications. The Common Application was introduced and then widely adopted. Some colleges introduced new application plans like “single choice early action.” The University of California system completely overhauled their admissions process. These changes, and many others, got plenty of media attention. They caused plenty of confusion, anxiety, and outright panic for parents, students, and counselors.

But through it all, more kids than ever still applied and got accepted to colleges. Life—and college admissions—goes on.

Whatever version of the SAT the College Board decides to put in front of kids, whatever new version of an application is adopted and whether or not it includes a portfolio, whatever version of evaluation colleges use, the changes will continue, but counselors, students, and parents will work together to figure it out.

Preemptively addressing these changes, many of which are still in the proposal stages, just gives kids and parents one more thing to worry about that they are not empowered to change or avoid. There’s plenty of anxiety in the admissions process without unnecessarily introducing more of it.

Some changes and challenges deserve worry and attention, particularly for counselors who are doing the difficult work to help under-resourced students apply to college. And every high school counselor I’ve ever met pays appropriate attention to those things that could impact their student population’s college access.

But for most of those changes getting front-page news, from the inevitable that can’t be changed (like the new SAT) to the proposed that have not actually happened yet (like the new evaluation system), I’ve yet to see a single one where the elements I preach here wouldn’t still apply.

Work hard. Take an active interest in your education. Commit yourself to things that you enjoy and find a way to make an impact. Find the right colleges where you could be happy and successful, regardless of prestige. And once you get there, do your part to create a remarkable college experience. Students will always be well-served to follow those practices.

I hope my age-related perspective—and 20 years of college admissions experience—helps you enjoy the ride to college and worry a little less, no matter what admissions changes come down the pike.