As I'm sitting in my parents home, about to pack up and head back to my university to begin my senior year, I've found my myself replaying memories from my last three years of college and wondering where these years have gone. As much as I don't want to sound like the crying parent, clinging to your baby pictures as they reminisce on how fast you've grown up, I have to be cliche and say that your college years truly fly by. It feels like I was just a freshman, being dropped off by my parents in a new town, within a new state, surrounded by thousands of people I didn't know. Three years later I am heading back up to that town that I have created countless memories in, within the state that I have grown to love, surrounded by people I have made life long friendships with... wishing that this wasn't my last year.
My one advice I could give to any student is to not wish one minute away. One of my coaches told me this my freshman year, and while I shrugged it off thinking that I had four long years ahead of me, this is now something that is resonating with me as I embark on the last stretch of my college career.
I am guilty to say that I have wished some of these moments away. Whether we are wishing away a stressful week of tests or are already planning an exciting weekend, it's completely natural for us to want to jump ahead. As humans, we are constantly focused on looking forward, so it's hard to pause for a moment and just enjoy where we are at.
You are going to anticipate the first home football game and wish you could already be tailgating with all of your friends. You are going to have a week where you are swamped with 4 tests, 2 essays, and a presentation, wishing it was already the weekend so you could relax. You are going to get home sick and wish to be home already, stuffing your face with home cooked meals over Thanksgiving. You are going to get overwhelmed with finals and just wish for that month of time off over Christmas break. You are going to plan a fun and exciting Spring Break that you wish you could be on already. But before you know it, you are going to be planning your classes for the next year or maybe even an internship for the summer. And for some of us, we are going to be graduating and moving on to the next chapter of our lives.
In a blink of an eye, this school year will be gone. That's why it's up to us to enjoy every second of it, even the parts we don't necessarily want to. Yes, I'm aware that I probably sound like a cheesy fortune cookie, or your grandparents reminiscing on the war and their days before cellphones. But as cheesy and as much as a grandparent I may sound like, it needs to be said.
So live in the moment. Go on a date with that guy who may not seem like your type. Decide to go out at the last minute, even if you have to completely rush to get ready. Study for that class that you hate. Ask the girl out you've had a crush on since your freshman year. Stay in and eat your weight in pizza while singing along to High School Musical 2. Go to class even if you are hungover. Pull an all nighter and end up sleeping in the library. Avoid your homework by taking hundreds of Buzzfeed quizzes with your roommates.
These are the little moments we are wishing away now, are moments we will one day be wishing we could get back.
