“Congratulations! Today is your day! You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!” (Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!")
The familiar singsong lyrics of Dr. Seuss bounced back and forth in my head as I stood two years ago on the cement steps of Egan Hall at Franciscan University, about to begin my college career. The clever rhymes in the brightly colored children’s book had always been fun and easy to read, but now they were taking on a new meaning for me.
While this book had been written for children, with its quirky rhymes and silly pictures, the words themselves sounded as if they were meant for an older crowd.
“You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” (Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!")
No doubt every high school grad had received at least one card with a quote from this infamous book on the front. And as I stood on those cement steps, I realized how true those words were.
This children’s story is a clever book about an adventure, the trials and successes along the way and about perseverance. As a recent high school graduate beginning her life, I was also beginning my own adventure.
How did I feel? Terrified.
“Out there things can happen, and frequently do, to people as brainy and footsy as you.” (Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!")
Every college student can relate to this new step. It begins the moment our parents drop us off at the dorm. When my parents left, I took a deep breath, realizing I was starting out on my own to learn this thing they call “adulting.” Like all 18-year-old college freshman, I started learning what it’s like to be out on my own. Eating whenever I wanted to, befriending whomever I wanted to, deciding between studying or procrastinating. Our first taste of freedom, it’s all our choice. And we love it.
With this new burst of confidence and self-reliance in myself, I start to feel like I know all the answers. I felt this all throughout my freshman and sophomore year. This summer, I moved into my first real apartment. Now I was really stepping up my adulting a notch. I was taking my next step. Then I was hit by something new.
Bills.
Rent, electricity, water, gas, all this stuff I didn’t even know existed that all of the sudden I had to pay for. I couldn’t just sit down to an already cooked meal, I had to make it. I began living paycheck to paycheck, eating sandwiches for every meal, driving my car as little as possible to save on gas.
And how did I feel now? Ecstatic.
Why? Because I think deep down inside all young adults like this challenge. We all like to be pushed to the limit, learning how to survive on literally nothing. Why do we love it? Because we like to prove we can handle it. We prove that we can survive on our own. We prove that we can be adults.
“On and on you will hike, and I know you’ll hike far. And face up to your problems, whatever they are." (Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!")
Some think college students have it easy, and in a way, we do. At least for our first year we are given meals at the cafeteria, we have RA’s to come crying to if something breaks, and mom sends care packages of all the necessities so we don’t have to go buy anything actually useful.
But eventually, either while we’re in college or when we graduate, we break away from that. We learn how to live in the adult world, paycheck to paycheck, breaking even, balancing work schedules and car problems and bills and we love the challenge.
Of course, there are scary times, especially those for us new to the adult world. We’re not used to paying bills, and we also don’t know how to save money. But we learn, and slowly but surely, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time, we learn to be adults. While he might have intended it for children, I think Dr. Seuss was targeting a much older audience when he wrote his infamous book, “Oh! The Places You’ll Go!”
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting! So…get on your way!” (Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!")
