Let me tell you, it’s a pretty odd feeling coming home from college for the whimsical summer months. After a year of making new friends, experiencing partial independence, and transitioning into adulthood, three long, daunting months at “home” simply feels peculiar. In a weird way, it feels as if you’re moving backwards on this journey we all call life, taking three steps back into a world of petty gossip and high school nonsense. At least for most of us, we have matured, growing into stronger, more intellectual people than who we had left during our teenage years. We are bigger than the hollow shells of our previous selves, caught between wanting to grow up and persistently refusing to get older.
You will run into those people you loathed ever so much in high school… it’s inevitable. And, it’s safe to say, most of them probably did not grow up. You will be tossed back into the world of “who can get the most likes on Instagram” and “omg look at my Starbucks post,” knowing very well that there’s sooo much more to life than presenting yourself a certain way on social media. Know right now that those people most likely are not happy, and really, you should pity them for their insistent close-minded nature to the outside world. You have learned from your experiences at college that actually paying attention to the news is interesting, and making yourself more worldly is much more important than getting praise from the world.
It will be uncomfortable running into them, for sure, but realize that they’re in your past for a reason. You’ve made much closer friendships in college over the course of a year than with any of them over the course of six.
Oh, the ex’s! Let them know that you’ve clearly, and very happily, moved on with your love life and really do not pay any mind to them. Yes, the encounters will be awkward, but if you keep your head high and confidence higher, they’ll certainly get the message.
At least, for me, I have felt intellectually stagnant being at home. I crave for the day I can once again attend classes and fill my mind with a plethora of knowledge, working diligently for a goal… a dream. How can I accomplish all the dreams and aspirations that I want to if I’m sitting at home all summer? (Yes mom, I realize I need to get an internship next summer, but that’s besides the point). My brain constantly needs stimulation through academic thought, furthering my knowledge and awareness of the world in which I inhabit. All I wish to do it take it all in, the sounds, the smells, the sights, all enhancing and turning the wheels of my ever-questioning mind. I wish to be greeted with new ideas, not petty gossip from my high school days.
“The summer is a time for relaxation,” a phrase I hear way to often whenever I complain about being bored. I do not know about you, but I was perfectly content with having a busy schedule while at school. With working on my school’s admission team, to conducting research in labs, to writing for the incredible Odyssey, I was constantly on the move, and extraordinarily happy throughout it all!
Of course, it is always sad to think that you’ve moved on with your life. I, if not more than anyone, hates change and would forever wish to remain the same person my entire life. Unfortunately, as with time, we all grow and develop into the people we were meant to be from the start. Whether that be a doctor, a scientist, or mailman, we were all destined for greatness, and put on this Earth for a reason.
I have moved on. We all have. It brings tears to my eyes thinking as such, for I recall myself last summer, determined to remain the same and never loose sight of my younger self. Of course, that younger self, full of innocence and light, will never leave my heart, as well as the place I’ve called home for the majority of my life. I love it here, and always will, I’m just destined for bigger and greater things, and that’s okay.
It’s okay to grow up, so long as you don’t forget the wonderful memories that brought you there.
XOXO.
