Dear Friends,
As graduation draws ever closer, a mixture of emotions is beginning to consume us. On one hand, we feel relief (we've almost made it!).
On the other, there is undeniable pressure. We’ve been waiting for this moment, fighting for it, but now that it’s here:
._______.
Some of you know exactly where you’re going. That’s great! But for most of us, our paths are less certain. For some, myself included, we have no idea what comes next. And that is terrifying.
College hasn’t come easily.
You feel like you’ve spent four years pushing yourselves, always trying to sharpen your mind, attempting to manage your stress, sometimes suppressing it, other times utilizing it to get things done, and occasionally losing it and letting it completely overwhelm you. Four years of adjusting to independence, four years of forging new friendships, and four years of exploring your identity.
Four years of mistakes and successes.
Four years of growth.
As if that wasn't difficult enough, even more is expected of us. During this time, we’ve had to do more than adjust to college life. We’ve had to constantly think about what comes after. Passing our classes isn’t enough. We have to use those classes to gauge if the major we’ve chosen is the right one. We’re encouraged to take on jobs and seek out internships that will give us an edge in the future. We need to show that we’re serious and passionate and ambitious, that we stand out from a crowd, that we don’t settle – the list goes on.
Honestly, I believe we’re all capable of all these things! The question is, how can we be go-getters when we don’t know what we want? We feel so much pressure from family, friends, society, and especially ourselves to have it all figured out. So much so that sometimes, all we want to do is curl up in a corner and cry, possibly with a bowl of pasta.
But, not all the time. Sometimes we allow ourselves to get excited. Every once in a while, we think about how new life after college is going to be and think “whoa.” How awesome is it that we’re now open to do, well, pretty much anything?! Don’t misunderstand me, I know that we all still have obligations to think about when making our decisions. We might have families to take care of, money that needs to be made, things like that. But thanks to the education we’ve now completed, we get to have options in how we manage these responsibilities. We’ve put the work in. We can find a path that balances our both our responsibilities and our potential interests. Even if we don’t know what we want right now, we can really start trying to figure it out.
And yes, we do have time. I know the pressure to figure it all out is high. But before we move on to the next thing, let’s take a moment and congratulate ourselves for the feat we’ve just achieved. Let’s stop and recognize the accomplishment of making it through those four years. We are strong, intelligent, talented, amazing individuals. Heck, we wouldn’t be graduating if we weren’t. So, let’s take a deep breath and focus on that, because we are all capable of so many things. Right now, we may not know what comes next. But soon, we will!
