Graduation. The dreaded event that wraps up the past four years of college.
For seniors, the memories that Clemson University provided were pivotal and truly irreplaceable. But the “what’s next?” feeling continues to linger.
The end of the year should feel light, with little work to do and classes coming to a close. For some reason, it doesn’t feel like that at all.
College is four years that somehow feel like four minutes, with a few million memories packed in between. I can safely say that I am not the person I was when I entered college. I grew. I learned. I messed up. And literally everything else in between.
There’s this feeling of wanting to spend all your days booked and busy, because in a month, life will be looking a lot different. There is guilt for not filling up 100% of your day with bucket list items to do before graduation. I hear the clock ticking, and somehow it’s right in my ear.
“These times will not last forever,” we hear from parents, grandparents and friends. “Soak it all in,” they say. This, I know, but what made the college experience so special was the memories made throughout the four years, not solely these last two weeks of school.
Yes, these last few days are filled with fun and doing all of our lasts, but I don’t think they reflect the college experience. The couch chats, study dates, coffee runs and spontaneous nights, those are college. Those were the times we are going to miss the most. Not the last week of school, when half of our minds are on what to do in the real world.
The pressure to cram it all in during the last days we have left is unrealistic. It requires us to change the routine that we have had all this time and do something differently. But why would we do that? Why would I change the things I always do just because these times are fleeting?
Instead, I would rather live my normal life, with the people I am surrounded by, and just do a little more thinking. Be happy that the random person you run into every so often is also in the gym at the same time as you, that your roommates are all home for dinner despite our mismatched schedules and that your friend has 30 minutes to grab coffee before class.
Those are what college is all about, the day-to-day. The life events that are smaller than graduation, but what made this journey something worth missing in a few short weeks.
Shift your perspective. Approach the end of college with a grateful mind. This chapter is closing, and a new one will open soon. Look back at the simple times over these last four years; that’s what it was all about.
Abney Smith is a senior communications major from Marietta, Georgia. Abney can be reached at [email protected].
