Do you ever get that feeling—that unsettling pang deep in your gut—that your current phase of life is ending? You’re not quite ready for the next phase, and you feel like you’re in a rut of sorts—stuck, unyielding.

For some, it’s that phase between high school and college when you’re torn between wanting to escape your parents’ clutches and realizing that you don’t know how to do your own laundry. For others, it’s when you’re six years into a committed relationship but aren’t sure whether you’re ready to be with that person for the rest of your life.

Whatever the case, we’ve all faced unsettling times during the transitional periods of our lives. I personally am about to finish out my junior year of college. This summer I’ll have a “real job,” live in an unfamiliar city and finish it out by moving into our senior house without my parents’ assistance.

As a person who consistently tries and miserably fails at living in the present, the fear of the unknown is terrifying, overwhelming and exhilarating all at once. Going into my senior year, I know just how close I am to graduating, but I don't really know what lies ahead.

In fact, the thought of graduating is kind of like skydiving: you’ve wanted to do it your entire life and have finally decided to commit to your desire. You’re at the point where you’re up in the plane, harness on and heart racing. When you step up to the door you’re supposed to jump out of, you don’t know if you’re ready to jump. You second guess yourself, knowing that, yes, you could potentially die. On the other hand, you could undergo something great, something you've never experienced before.

So you face whatever fears arise in your head, and you jump. All at once you can really feel life—you’re now in the sky above; you’re aware of your body weight and of your transience in this world. Your worries float away, and you feel more in the moment than you’ve ever felt in your life. At the same time, you feel invincible, and you know that jumping out of that plane, while terrifying, was worth overcoming your fear of the unknown.

In college, you spend the first three years figuring out who you are. By senior year, everyone expects you to have it figured it out. Are you going to law school, or are you going to take the job offer you received from your summer internship? Are you a partier, or would you rather stay in? You’ve spent so much time cultivating yourself as an individual, and now you’re expected to lock whoever that person is, in.

But you're not ready for that! You have so many questions. After working diligently for several years, this is the final test. Will you graduate on time? Will you get a full-time job? What’s it really like in that mysterious world, and is it, too, a bubble? Perhaps you won’t be in one big bubble anymore. No, you’ll be in your own bubble, working with other people in their bubbles, trying to establish boundaries without ruining your reputation.

I mean, this is terrifying. After three years of basically messing around, it’s finally time to get it together and focus on the next step. It’s time to start ironing out your college “kinks” in order to establish a professional lifestyle. How are you going to present yourself to the real world? What are you going to do when there’s no net to catch you when you fall? How are you supposed to care about your grades when you already have a full-time job offer on the table?

Even more overwhelming is the thought that, come 2017, there will be a new president. How will this affect the job market, and will you be negatively impacted? What about your current boyfriend? Is he Mr. Right, or is he Mr. Right Now? Are you wasting your last year with him, when you could be spending it single?

Not to mention your dear friends. Regardless of how long these individuals have been in your life, they have shaped it in ways you won’t be able to appreciate until you fondly look back on your college years. But who will stay, and who will go? The fact of the matter is that you can’t have 67 best friends forever. At some point, the ones who are important will stay, and the ones who aren’t will fade away in the distance.

Nonetheless, despite your concerns, it's important that you don’t waste away your time worrying. There are so many questions we all have when it comes to the next stage of life. But now is the time to laugh with your friends, regardless of how long you surmise that they’ll stay in your life. Now is the time to eat disgusting food without having to feel guilty about it, and to drink on the weekdays.

The real world is—unfortunately—quickly approaching. And hey, maybe you’re ready for it. But I know that someday, you’ll think back on your precious college years, and think, “If I could change one thing, I would stop racing toward the future and stop, cease my work and look around me.”

Most importantly, know that there's no deadline when it comes to deciding who you are. As Eric Roth wrote, “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”