It's finally here! College is just around the corner, literally, and it's now time to say goodbye to your beloved bedroom. It won't be the same, but at least you'll have most of your valuables with you in your alternative dorm room. Time is ticking and you've just barely thought about packing. In my experience, packing is much, much harder than how they showed Amanda Bynes from She's the Man packing for Illyira. Here are the 4 stages we are all too familiar with:
1. The "Let's Do This!" Stage
You can't wait to go through everything in your room and pretend to play your own boss, deciding what to keep and what not to keep. You already know most of what to take, so what's the big deal, right? It won't be that hard. You have a picture in your mind that everything fits perfectly in your dorm and nothing is left out. Everything is better when playing Spotify, so you blast some pumping-up songs that you may or may not have heard before, but they were on that one mood playlist. The first part to packing is easy because you are essentially grabbing things from your closet and throwing them into piles, ready to be put in your suitcase. Mom and Dad set some ground rules but you don't mind what they say because you're an adult...and this is your room. You know you have x amount of suitcases and 2x more belongings. Organizational thinking makes you overwhelmed so you have something to eat while watching Netflix on a 30-minute timer.
2. The "Parent Intervention" Stage
Now that you've tried to do it yourself, one (or both) of your parents decides to intervene and tell you that you've packed way too much. They give you the long lecture about how your dorm has only so much space, and that you won't be needing most items in order to survive the first few months of college. But let's be real, college is unpredictable so everything has its purpose. You argue with mom and dad for a good few minutes, but eventually they start re-organizing everything and you're left to go along with their way of doing it. You start making a give-away pile that your sibling goes through and are forced to remove that one jacket you thought you needed for that one cold night, but your mom finds a hole in it. We all know it's hard to let go, but it had to happen.
3. The "Breakdown" Stage
While you're almost done packing everything and clearing out your closet, you begin to feel happy again and reassured that everything is going to be ok. So you go back in your room and go through all the drawers, secret storage boxes (that you haven't seen in ages), and stumble upon even MORE accessories and belongings that you didn't even remember were there in the first place. You sort them out into two separate piles: one to keep and one to give-away. The "keep" pile is much larger, and you reassure yourself that one swimsuit still fits. You start having a mental breakdown because you thought you had everything packed and organized, but you don't. You tell your mom you're going to need another suitcase to fit the rest of your shoes, scarves, socks, and tank tops. Oh, and you probably forgot about your toiletries and school supplies that can't get left behind–because Ohana means family.
4. The "See, I Knew It Would All Fit" Stage
All of the suitcases are zippered, and you're scratching off the final items on your packing list. Your room looks better than ever, and your closest is bare naked. You think, Chip and Joanna Gaines would be proud. The Christmas decorations that you just couldn't fit are sitting in a corner, waiting to be shipped by December. You sigh in relief and at this point are glad you did this whole packing process two days before take off rather than leaving it to the last minute. I mean, let's be real--you probably would have had DOUBLE the panic attacks than the night before, plus some more unnecessary Netflix.
Last but not least, you (proudly) show your parents the final product and take pleasure in their surprised faces. You can't wait to move in now. It's time to play some Ben Rector.
