College is the best four years of your life, enjoy it.
As a student, I have heard this more times than I can count. I always hold my tongue—I am a generally polite person; but I want to look them in the eye, shake their hand, and say, “I honestly, truly hope not.”
Maybe it is an inability to live in the moment. Maybe it is because I do not participate in the typical “college party” culture. Maybe it is because I have no free time and I am bitter. Maybe it is because I am jealous. Whatever the reason may be, college has not been the best 4+ years of my life, and that’s okay. As I write this, I do not wish to turn my nose up to those who make college the best time of their life. I am probably more jealous than anything; I am jealous that I have not had the same experience. I will try not to get too hung up on that, though. If you are enjoying every second of college and making every day better than the last: Do you, boo (Shout out to Ana Kasparian, TYT).
The definition for “being in college” is different for each student. For me, being in college means working more than forty hours every week, working most holidays, and enjoying my work but wishing there were more hours in the day. Being in college means taking two courses at a time while I work full time. Being in college means having almost no free time for my homework and passions and practically zero for myself, loved ones, or friends. I am fixated on my future. I am obsessed with the idea of fusing school and work into one task that I can invest every cell of my body into. I can envision myself at the helm of the classroom. I have so many ideas I want to set into motion. I want to try and fail and rejoice in the unadulterated rawness of learning. Juggling school and work right now feels like juggling a bowling ball and a super ball; if you drop that one, good luck catching up to it while you still juggle the bowling ball. There should be a ball that represents social aspects of my life with family and friends, but it has rolled into the corner and is collecting dust. I just want time to, like, read a book or something, man.
Now, I sit up at the wee hours of the morning, past deadline, to get this piece in because I love writing and despite my schedule, I shoehorned the Odyssey into my life because I think it is important to write.
I want the focus of my life to be the things I love, rather than furiously juggling and balancing. Sometime in the near future, I will be a teacher. I will be advocating for students and fighting to create education policy that is best for our children. I will be helping students read, write, and analyze. My work will be a labor of love and an investment in each and every one of my students. Hundreds of children will change the lens through which I view the world every year. At home, there will be a loving family. We will all talk about our days and what we have learned, struggled with, and achieved. I’ll finally have time to read some books, or even better, student pieces. My life will be saturated in passion. I want to be swallowed by the pursuit of goodness and love. That, my friends, as everything I have worked my whole life for comes to fruition, is when I will stop to take a breath and say, “This. This is the best time of my life.”
