18-year-old me,
Congrats on almost being done with high school, you’ve got just a few weeks left. You’ve done some awesome things in high school, but understandably, you’re anxious and excited for the next chapter of your life at college.
And who can blame you? Everyone builds up college to be so fantastic and man, believe the hype; college is going to be incredible! Every single day is going to be an adventure where you’ll learn so much about life and yourself, receive a practical education that you’ll (believe it or not) actually enjoy studying, all while meeting many amazing people and making tons of fantastic memories.
However, for now, do yourself a favor and take the time to enjoy summer before college. Yes, college is going to be wonderful and you’re ecstatic for the freedom that comes with being on your own at college, but it will come soon enough. Don’t wish away this one-of-a-kind, three-month period of your life away.
In all honesty, I think that the summer that Bryan Adams sings about in the “Summer of ’69” is the summer after graduating high school. Right now, you have such a perfect climate to be young and dumb, and to just enjoy life with no real responsibility other than a part-time job. I mean, think about it: if you’re not at work or working out, you’re either going to be doing something with friends or family, or chilling by yourself. Is that not the life?
Additionally, high school and senior year has been great and all, but it’s finally in the rear view. This summer is going to be the freest summer you’ve experienced so far, tons of sunshine, and great times. You and your friends rule your hometown, summer is here, and you’ll be spending the summer all over with your best friends and family at the beach, the pool, concerts, bonfires and amusement parks.
On another note, one more reason why this summer will be unlike any other is because in summers to come, you'll never be quite as close with your high school classmates again as you are now. You'll keep in touch and always be tight with those friends, but the inside jokes and your shared experiences will become a lot less frequent just because you won’t see each other daily anymore. Soak this up. Enjoy every single second of this summer with those great friends while you have it.
Moreover, summers in college will still be fun and much needed as eight months of classes will wear your down, but the deeper you go into college, the less freedom you’ll have each summer. You and friends will start seeking out internships and jobs which take up much more and more of your time every year and it will become increasingly difficult to see all your hometown friends so frequently. Another downside of college summers is that all the tweets and Facebook posts about college summers just consisting of trying to lose as much weight and make as much money as possible are frighteningly accurate. No summer is going to be the same as the one you’re about to experience.
Plus, your summer breaks are numbered. I know it seems like you still have a long while until you graduate college, but after this summer, you only have three more summers left to not be a real, full-time working adult. After this summer, you only have three more summer breaks left in your lifetime and then you’ll have work all year round, including from May-August. This horrifying thought hit me just the other day and I couldn’t sleep. Can you imagine not having a summer break? Yeah, I can’t either but sadly, that’s reality.
Finally, college and the rest of your life will be amazing, but summer is never quite the same after the summer before college because you really start becoming more of a working professional every summer. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the next chapter of your life will be so wonderful and you'll blossom into a fantastic person; just don't wish away this summer because you'll never have another summer to be fresh out of high school and rule your hometown in quite the same way ever again.
Live it up and enjoy this summer.
