About every other day I switch from being completely ecstatic about starting the next chapter of my life, after graduation, to feeling like after college the best years of my life will be over.
Yes, I have been known to be a bit over the top when it comes to emotions and opinions.
Most people might see this as a bad thing but, to be honest, I am not in the least bit ashamed. I am actually rather proud. However, when it comes to accepting the reality that is graduation, my extremist personality tends to harm me, and my changing feelings about graduation seem like an emotional roller coaster. So, how do we accept the change that comes with being forced into a whole new season of our life and that seems to have come as swiftly as the wind? Well, I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but here is what I do know.
When I was a little girl, my favorite aunt – who also happens to be my role model – would always tell me, “Shannon, if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly!” Maybe it was just her southern or her natural wittiness and knack for creating interesting phrases, but this little piece of wisdom and advice has been in the back of my mind almost every single day of my life. While I am a passionate person, who would rather feel an emotion completely or not at all, I also have a rather timid and shy side. When my aunt spoke these words to me, I think she was speaking to that part of me. And while she might not have said it in so many words, I think what my aunt was trying to tell me not to be afraid to go after what I want and if I am going to do something, do it big or not at all.
Not only do I love this saying, I love what it stands for. So often in life we find ourselves in a stage of transition. We say, “If I could just get here, things will be better.” Or we think, “Once this is over, then I will be so much better off.”
We put off what we want today in order to follow the guidelines or path that society has laid out for us. We keep waiting for our lives to begin. But when we do this, we also push our passions aside for a tomorrow that is never truly promised.
It gets so frustrating and annoying to just keep simply adding things to my bucket list everyday instead of checking things off. We shouldn’t keep waiting for the next chapter, wishing our time away as we wade through a stage of transition, but it is also extremely unrealistic to do some of the things we want to while we are in college because college is, fundamentally, a period of transition.
So, whether you have a job laid out for next year, an apartment, or know what law, medical or graduate school you want to go to, just remember never to let life’s little details overwhelm you, stop you from being excited about your future, or keep you from going after what you want out of life with full force and all guns blazing. Whether you want to be anything from a blogger to the president of the United States, don’t forget that where there is a will, there is a way. Hard work pays off much more than natural talent or skill, any day.
What I have figured out as I prepare for this season of change is that life only gets better and more exhilarating from here.
