The beginning of summer is one of the worst, yet best, times of the year for college students. With the school year ending for most of us, goodbyes have begun. Whether you're leaving your college town for the summer or going in different directions from your loved ones and significant others, it is always difficult to say goodbye even if it's only see you soon. In just a few short months, even weeks, everything can change. You may be going home to hang out with old friends but your "college friends" were the ones that you spent every day with. They're the ones that you've gone to for the past nine months for everything. But now, you've had to say goodbye for the summer.
You're going through the stages of goodbye, including pretending like everything is fine. Eventually reality will hit and that could be tomorrow or in a week. Like every situation, there are stages of saying goodbye to those you love or even those who you made family. The stages of goodbye, as demonstrated by Katniss Everdeen, are as follows.
1. It hasn't really hit yet
This is the stage where everything is fine because it doesn't seem real quite yet.
2. Anxiety of having to say goodbye
Here's the feeling of "I'm actually going to have to do this aren't I?"
3. The actual goodbye
Saying the actual goodbye is the most difficult. You may still have the anxiety but you're also starting to move into the denial that it actually happened.
4. Denial that you've said goodbye
Denying that you've said goodbye is just going to make the process of getting over the goodbye even longer.
5. The sadness that manifests after the denial stage
We all know the stage where you just start crying uncontrollably. This just happens to be that stage. The reality sets in, the emotions start overflowing, and the waterfall begins.
6. The numbness of realizing that it actually happened
After a few days, or even weeks, whenever the previous stages have passed. You just feel numb. You wish that it hadn't happened but you knew that after nine months it had to. You can't stay in college forever.
The hardest goodbye, other than family and significant others, is the one that you have to say to those friends who became family but graduated. You'll keep in touch, but not seeing them on a daily basis is going to be one of the worst things in the next year.
Everyone handles goodbyes in their own way. These six aren't just personal, but things that many people go through. Some may go through them faster than others. On the other hand, some people completely skip a stage or two. It all depends on the situation. But soon enough, the time for goodbye is over and you'll be with those people all over again.
