College is a great time to explore life. It's a great time to contemplate all the existential crises that you can think of and it is the best time to find your calling and subsequently, who you are. Or at least that's what they tell us. They tell us to follow our hearts, to dream big and make those dreams come true; they tell us to aim high and do what we want to do not what others tell us we must do. But there comes a time when we must face reality. Not to say that having grand dreams and making them come true is impossible, but no one told us that it wasn't so easy. No one told us that at times we'd feel like giving up. And absolutely no one told us how ominous the looming threat of graduation would be. Yes, of course many of you anxiously await the day that you graduate: be that eight months from now or twenty months from now. Needless to say there are some of us out here that look on to the future with more dread than anticipation.
There are things in life that no amount of planning or hard work will change. For instance, I fear the approach of graduation day so much that there hasn't been a day since my sophomore year that I haven't thought about it. I have worked hard and actually enjoyed doing so for the past years, but for some reason I am afraid to face the end of my undergraduate career. I've come to realize that it isn't exactly graduation that I am afraid of nor is it the end of college. I've come to realize that what I fear, like so many others, is change.
Change, like growth, is inevitable. Even in a case where we are somehow able to forestall change most of us will choose change over constancy. My junior year at the City College of new York started out with this as my main focus. That is, until I realized that I do want to change. And although I do not know what the future holds in store for me it is my aim this semester to overcome this fear of the unknown.
Here are some things I tell myself to prevent that fear from stunting my growth (emotional, educational and all other aspects):
1. Remember what your goal is.
Change is a good thing. In order to accomplish the things you've envisioned for yourself there has to be some sort of change. Without change we'd all lived boring, monotonous lives with no motivation to go on.
2. Talk to your friends, a family member or even a counselor.
Talking to someone about your fears, whether those fear are rational or irrational, tends to help. It will help to get another perspective and get some time outside your mind. Talking to others also makes us stop to realize that there are people out there doing exactly what you want to do. They've accomplished their goals and this should give you hope. You got this.
3. Work even harder.
Tell yourself that your fears are all irrational and that the harder you work the more you will alleviate that fear.
4. Put things in perspective.
Don't be so fatalistic-no matter how much change you are expecting upon graduating you do have some degree of control. In fact, the work that you should be putting in now (instead of fretting about the future) will play a big role in what you do when you graduate.
So chin up my friend, things are never as bad as they seem. Go out there, kick some academia butt this semester and remember Annie's words: "The sun will come out tomorrow,so you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow, come what may!..."
