Graduation season is upon us, and with it, the nostalgia of closing an important chapter in our lives. Some of us will continue into higher education, some of us will move out of state and find that job we have been wanting so badly. We will become educators, doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, musicians and artists, but one thing we all have in common is that we all made memories in college and saying goodbye is ultimately bittersweet.
Before you leave, make sure you do these five things, and you will find saying goodbye significantly easier.
5. Visit your favorite campus landmark.
As college students, we have the privilege of attending universities filled with beautiful surroundings and buildings we get to call home for four years. During this time, we start taking for granted the places we thought were so beautiful, but became part of our everyday lives. Take a moment, and sit by your campus landmark. Observe the people that are sitting there or just walking by. Think about your future plans and remember that when you started college you were also a little scared, but here you are. You made it to your twenties and now have a college degree. Remember that from this time forward, you will start working to do what you love. Get excited!
4. Dedicate some time to spend with your closest friends.
After your last final is over, remember to spend some time with your closest friends. The majority of you will start a new life separate from each other. Use this time to connect and have real conversations with one another. Getting all of you together will not be an easy task after you graduate.
3. Take care of unfinished business.
Make sure that you don't leave anything that you might look back on and regret never doing. If it is still within your reach, do it. You might not know who you will meet because of it. Be brave for a change. If not now, when?
2. Thank the professors, faculty or staff that helped you through your career.
Stop by the office of that one person that helped you through a difficult time. Whether you were borderline on a grade and they helped you out, or you were experiencing a challenging time and they took the time to guide you, thank them. The main reason many choose to become an educator or work with students is the chance they have to made an impact on another person's life. Saying that simple thank you might give them that encouragement they might not have known they needed.
1. Pick five of your favorite college memories and remember to reflect on the person you were before them and the person you are now.
Undoubtedly, you are not the same person that entered college four or five years ago. The experiences that you had and the people you met forever changed you into the person you are today. You probably made many mistakes. The career you might have once thought you were going to pursue did not end up working out. Your heart was probably broken, maybe more than once. You might have failed a class, or slept through a final. You might have lost someone very important to you. The friends you thought would last, did not. Although all of these things were painful in their own way, remember that you made it through. Choose five of your most cherished memories, five times in the past few years that you felt truly happy. They do not have to be intricate or particularly life-changing, but remember that in those moments you were alive. Take those memories as the best moments you had in college, so when, in a couple of years, you look back at your college career, you remember that this was the start of the rest of your life.
