“Don’t blink” seems to be a phrase that keeps running through my mind as graduation approaches rapidly.

As a senior who is about to walk across the stage and become an alum of my university, I suddenly have the urge to tell everyone who is younger than me to be careful with their time in college because it disappears too fast. I’m like a grandparent who wants to make sure you take on all of their wisdom.

One second you’re a freshman, discovering this fun new place called college. There are hundreds and thousands of people to meet. There are so many experiences ahead of you. You could be anything. You can be whomever you want or whatever you want—and it seems like you have plenty of time to figure it out.

Then you blink, and you’re a senior with only a few weeks separating you from the real world. It’s exciting—don’t get me wrong. But it’s also terrifying. Having a real job means having money, but you have to budget and know how to keep up with bills. It means not calling your parents every time something goes wrong, although I hope they’re still there if I manage to flood my apartment or if I ever just really need to go home.

It’s so awesome to think of where the next few years could take you. Maybe you’re engaged and planning your future with your husband, or maybe you’re graduating single and have the freedom to go wherever you want with nothing to hold you back and no one else to accommodate in your plans.

I’m not saying I’m upset that my time in college is coming to an end—it has been a wild ride with a lot of ups and downs. I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to accomplish, but I accomplished more than I ever thought I could. I never anticipated becoming an editor for The Odyssey or a great-great-grand-Big in my sorority. Those things happened as time went on, and I’m blessed that they happened, even though they weren’t on my freshman to-do list.

I just wish that I had taken the time to cherish more things. I wish that instead of skipping my pledge class bonding times at pools or happy hours, I had gone and made the memories. I wish that instead of pulling all-nighters and sleeping all day that I had done some of my work in a timely fashion so I could spend the rest of the day and the nights with the people that matter. I wish there was more time to go back to the best days and relive them. I wish that someone could have followed me around telling me which days were going to be the ones I’d remember the most so I could have paid more attention to every detail and soaked it in. I wish there was a little more of everything.

Cherish the time while you can. Love people while you can, because after college you may never see some of them again. Don’t let bad breakups or hard times keep you from living. Figure out who you are and who you want to be. Before you know it, it is time to walk across that stage. Some people will stay in your life, and others will become a memory. Are you ready?

It has been a wild ride, with heartbreak and great success, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I just hope that you listen when I say, “Don’t blink.”