Senior Year: It goes by quicker than the blink of an eye.

We spend our entire high school career thinking that we have all the time in the world to plan our future. Freshman year becomes the adjustment year. We start to explore what this new level of education has to offer for our interests. Sophomore year is more of a relaxed period. The transition is complete, you start realizing what you enjoy, the social groups are formed and you enter a comfortable state.

Junior year rolls around, and all of a sudden the guidance department is shoving college down your throat. The application process is in your near future, the world is pressuring you to know what you want to be when you grow up. It was so much simpler in first grade when you got to draw a picture and imagine your dream job. What we wanted to be when we grew up introduced wonder and curiosity into our hearts. Now it’s stressful, our minds racing to comprehend reality. Senior year is finally here. Colleges are responding to applications, your imagined future is finally arriving, responsibilities increase.

Then suddenly you’re putting on your cap and gown to walk in your very own graduation. You forget to take a moment to appreciate all the little things. Coming home to loving parents who can cook for you, clean the house, and be there when life is stressful. Suddenly it’s all over. College is here. Your future is here. You’ll find your own house to live in, and you won’t come home to food in the fridge. You’ll have to go out and work for it.

You forgot to take a few minutes to appreciate the life you had. Your life is suddenly changing faster than you realize. Your friends that you have known since elementary school are on different paths than you. You won’t see them every day like you used to. Your graduating class is splitting into a hundred different directions and the faces you have seen every day for four years will become thousands of new faces you won’t remember.

Take every day of your life as if it is your last. Don’t let the years pass without making them meaningful because suddenly, it will all be over. Never take a day for granted. Never take anything for granted. Remember each moment. Life changes unexpectedly and we have to be prepared for every change.