Senior Student Shares Sentiments About Moving On
“Time flies when you’re having fun.” “These next four years will fly by.” “You’re going to miss this time of your life.” Have you ever been on the receiving end of these messages? I have on countless occasions, and each always sounded so cliché that I never bothered to truly accept the truth about them. Now that I am less than two months away from graduating college, I cringe at the thought of every moment that I took for granted.
Although I am offering the simple advice of cherishing each second of your college years, I do not want to write for the underclassmen. This article is for the seniors, the graduates of the class of 2013. If you are anything like me, May 22 could be marked down in your diary as the saddest day of your life.
In no way am I ready to graduate. Sure, I am pleased with my preparation for the professional world, and an opportunity for a job right out of college looks like a good possibility. So that is not the reason I’m not ready to graduate. Like all of the seniors here at Monmouth (or at least the majority of them), my seventeen years of schooling (including kindergarten) comes to an end. I went through a short-lived phase of sulking about all of the things that will disappear when I graduate.
Here are just a few of them: being in a classroom setting, sleeping in, procrastinating school work, having Christmas and spring break, staying out late on a Tuesday, running club meetings, having ample time for the gym, and living within a mile from all of my friends. All of these memories are irreplaceable. Although I do not wish to go back and redo any of them, I do wish I could have more time to enjoy them.
This next month and a half gives me a golden opportunity to create more memories. However, missing these experiences is only half of the reason as to why I am not ready to graduate. The other half is filled w ith fear. I consider myself a risky, courageous, and spontaneous woman. However, I only know how those behaviors affect me in an environment that treats mistakes as terrific learning experiences. The schooling years appreciate trying and failing. It is in human nature to do so, but I fear for an environment that does not allow me to grow through failure. I fear that the pressure I put on myself will be amplified and that brave actions will only matter if they result in success. I fear leaving the comfort zone of a setting that allowed me to dip my hands into as many pots as possible and to try new things.
The mixture of anticipated nostalgia and fear combine to form an emerging nervous wreck. Rather than exaggerating on how different life after college may be, I want to share one bit of advice that a recent graduate gave me. You may take it literally (I certainly did), but I recommend finding a deeper worth in what her statement means to you instead of taking it at face value.
She said, “Go out on Monday. Go out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Even go out on Wednesday. You will never appreciate ‘time’ like you do in college. So enjoy it.” Even if you are not a social scene person, I think her statement speaks volumes for how precious not only these last four years but also the past seventeen years of schooling have been. It also recognizes the value of time and how much we should appreciate it in our life.
Not being ready to graduate in no way means that I am not ready to get a job. My goal of finding a job within the next five months will remain at the top of my priorities. I have already endured the stress of job searching and interviewing for full-time positions. However, I still have a month and a half to enjoy my life as a college student, and I encourage every college senior to do just that.
IMAGE TAKEN from huffingtonpost.com
