Just like every other college student, I’ve become completely addicted to Netflix. To be more specific, I’ve become completely addicted to the show "How I Met Your Mother." Maybe it’s the mystery of who the yellow umbrella rightful owner is, or maybe it’s the awesome references to Minnesota. Despite those things, the fans of the show can agree that some pretty great life lessons and tips have been taught during the show (as crazy as they may be). My favorite lesson was, “you can’t trust graduation goggles,” as explained by Robin Scherbatsky.
So what does that mean exactly, and why are graduation goggles a bad thing? Graduation goggles don’t sound so terrible, and the funny thing is, this phrase doesn’t even have to apply to a senior who’s graduating. It can count towards any situation in life, and as soon as you realize that those goggles are strapped around you, you have to find the strength to get them off. Today I want to talk mainly about how it felt to have graduation goggles during senior year, post high school, and why I needed to step back into reality and take those goggles off.
A great example of graduation goggles would be the time in every senior’s life when high school goes from terrible to not-so-terrible, because in the back of their minds they know that they’ll have to leave their school behind forever.
It’s the time when, instead of thinking, “Ugh, tater tots again?” seniors get sentimental and think “Awe, this is the last time I’ll ever eat these tater tots in my life, and I’ve been eating these ever since kindergarten, now I’ll never get to eat them again.” And in that split second those bland, mushy tater tots become the best thing you’ve ate in the past year.
It’s the time when instead of getting frustrated at the over-filled parking lot as you scan for open spots in the busy morning traffic, you decide to park your car with a smile on your face, and even though it’s far away from the main entrance, you don’t mind the walk because this is the last time you’ll ever walk from your car through these front doors. It suddenly become the saddest moment of your life.
You might think this is a bit over-exaggerated, but trust me it’s exactly how I felt. Unfortunately I’m a very sentimental person, and that was how my brain was working and thinking during my last week of high school. I know lots of people weren’t in the same memory lane as I was, but I still wanted to take in every “last” moment of high school. It was the strangest feeling – my entire senior year I had wanted nothing more than to finally get out of my high school, away from all the people, the drama and this small town. Then my graduation goggles kicked in, and my high school seemed like the best place on earth and I was so sad to be leaving.
My graduation goggles didn’t kick into extremely high gear though until my freshman year of college. I had to constantly remind myself to not get upset and sentimental about the things that I used to do in high school that I can’t do anymore, like go to prom, homecoming, be in student council or choir. It was all over, and as sad I was, I had to force myself to take off those dang goggles and let go.
The point is that if you’re a sentimental person like me, your graduation goggles are going to make it hard to see the great things happening in the amazing here-and-now. Those goggles are going to make you think that your life in college so far hasn’t been anywhere near as fun and great as the life you had in high school. That’s exactly the place that my mind was in a few months ago, and it definitely wasn’t a place I wanted to be in.
I’m happily here today to tell you that if you’re stuck behind those goggles, and you think that your life isn’t as great as it used to be, you need to realize that there is no greater time than the present. You’re young; college will bring you so many opportunities, and just because freshman year might not have been all that great, don’t compare your life in the past to your life right now. Your life without those graduation goggles is beautiful and promising, and college will be some of the most memorable, amazing times of your life. In the end, you won’t even remember how it felt to have those graduation goggles on, and I promise you that the best is yet to come.
