In a few days' time, countless teenagers will have settled in to their dormitories and new homes, to begin a long journey forward. Wow! Time soars, doesn't it?

That journey is no mere walk through the forest - it's a long, arduous path over many mountains, woods, oceans, and deserts.

Oh, soon enough, revelations of who you truly are will come about. You'll be settled into your element, most likely with the people you'll go on to have a career next to - most likely the environment you'll be in for the rest of your life.

You'll be in a new world of your own, possibly miles away from home, with so many pathways to take that the overwhelming amount of them may leave you disoriented and confused.

The best and worst occur equally with alarming haphazardness, all peppered with financial burden, lengthy classes, job prospects, and, depending on your major, either grueling tests or assignments more physical in nature than what you're used to.

It is slightly terrifying, yes.

How does one begin the rest of their life, how do they properly equip themselves to set everything in motion for their future, now more than ever? Is there anything they can do to quell this innumerable wave of worry?

Yes, indeed! Because it's okay to feel like that.

Because you will feel anxious, one way or another - this isn't just a chapter opening in a book, or one of those other platitudes you find on Pinterest or something. This is a new book entirely. And when the terrain is now, the doubts in navigation increase.

You are not alone. Not now, not ever. That element you settle into? It'll be filled with blessed companions, and better yet, those who can see and understand your eyes and mind. You couldn't ask for finer people to stand beside you, and I promise that they will be there.

Oh, and it gets better! You're free of any problems that might have stuck to your shoe from high school. If there's a person you always wanted to be, stellar - you can be that person. You can make that person a reality. Is there something about yourself you wish to change? Then do so, without judgment. Who's going to have the tools to judge you, when nearly all of the populace will be going through similar trials?

We're all together. Isn't it beautiful?

It's you and your craft. The apathy of most high schools is largely absent, replaced by people who want to be in that lecture hall with you.

Do you fear that you might change your field, swapping a life of studying animals for encrypting the world's computers (I think that's proper computing terms)? Go right ahead, and don't look back! There is no shame in recognizing that the destiny you so dreamed of may not be for you.

But who ever said you had to have one destiny to dream of in the first place?

I don't quite remember the exact time, but back in Rhode Island, I sat upon a hill at the top of campus, gazing out at the fog that had arrived mid-afternoon. I think that's when it hit me, that there was nothing to chain me to my life back in the Hudson Valley. I felt strong, I felt innovative, I felt that my world was mine to shape - I felt ready. And you will too.

Or hell, you might not be worried and everything might go swimmingly. Maybe you're a spring chicken flying out of the coop at full speeds. If you are, cheers, mate! But this ain't about you, so, uh, go sunbathe on the quad or something.

And of course, this is not a journey everyone is capable of making. I would be arrogant and over-idealistic to assume that whatever befalls anyone in their college years, they can overcome it. They cannot. And that, too, is okay. Tragedy lies in the failure to be told or tell yourself that changing course is a perfectly viable choice.

Then that is your destiny. Wherever you so choose, now is your time to make your way to the sun.