Three years ago, in August of 2013, I was preparing to begin my senior year of high school. I had a new boyfriend, I was working a few hours per week at a nearby movie theater, and I wasn't particularly worried about anything other than finding a dress for prom. I wasn't even concerned about filling out college applications. (I didn't end up doing that until early 2014, just eight months before I started my first year at UNI.)
Now, as my senior year of college quickly approaches, I'm not sure what to think. It's hard to believe that just two years ago, I was declaring a major I hated. Then, a year ago, I changed my mind and switched to a major I love. The past three years have been a whirlwind of decision-making and grown-up experiences. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave the safety net that being a student has provided.
To me, August 22nd represents the beginning of the end—the end of my schooling—and the beginning of a new beginning—my adult life. A year from now, I will have a college degree. I will be looking for or settling into a new job. I will be paying off student loans. I will be a newly-manufactured, eager graduate, ready to leave behind the last chapter of my education.
But graduating has to be one of the most stressful common occurrences that we all go through. Once we come down from the brief high of freedom and opportunity, we realize that graduating leads to decisions we aren't ready to face. We realize that college is expensive, and expensive schooling calls for a job, and jobs require work, and work means the time that we have to sacrifice. Graduating from college means that I will have to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I'm not sure that I'm ready (or will ever be ready) to face that. All I know for sure is that I only have one guaranteed life, and I want it to be so many things, beginning right here at UNI.
No matter how terrifying it seems to leave the comfort zone of being in school, I'm hoping that my last year at UNI will prepare me for what comes next. And even if it doesn't, I will wake up each morning and welcome the new day, knowing that my future will continue to call to me until I decide to answer.