“It’s the oldest story in the world. One day, you’re 17 and planning for someday and then quietly, and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And that someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” – One Tree Hill
Here we stand with luggage at our feet and the door to life wide open. We look out past the door, a mixture of glee, curiosity and melancholy crossing our faces. Hesitantly, we take one step forward, take one step out the door. But we can’t quite force ourselves to leave quite yet. Instead, we turn around and look behind us.
What’s behind us is our best friend sobbing in a bathroom stall on a Friday night. It’s waking up at 7:55 a.m. for our 8 a.m. class. It’s moving into our dorm rooms on the first day of freshmen year. It’s wanting to dig a hole and crawl in it because we have two papers, three presentations and one exam due on the same day. It’s watching our friends older than us throw their caps in the air and telling ourselves that we will never graduate.
We turn back around and look ahead of us. What we see is an endless green field. There is nothing but green because the future is unknown. But with every step we take on the other side of this door, we create more memories behind us. We create more things to look back on as we grow older.
Now, as much as we want to dwell on the past, we need to accept it for what it is and embrace this new part of our lives with arms wide open. It’s a scary feeling to do this – to leave behind all that we know. We are literally losing a part of our identity. But we are also gaining a new part, and who knows what great things this new part holds in store?
Life is this big unknown. It’s this crazy thing that somehow works out exactly how it was meant to work out. So, we carry on. We pick up our luggage and keep on walking. Soon, we will look back at this moment in our lives and wish for it back. We will miss the simplicity of it, even if it feels anything but simple right now.
So, as we stand at the threshold of the open door to The Real World, we must ask ourselves a simple question. We must ask ourselves exactly what it is we want behind us at the end of the road. Because, starting now, Class of 2016, we are carving a new path of life. What we do from here on out is unlike anything we have done before. It is this mystery that we only will figure out once it’s happened.
Starting now, we have a new life to live. While it’s OK to look behind you every once in a while – to look back at all of it – we need to keep looking forward. All that we’ve done so far in life has prepared us for this day.
Enjoy it. Embrace it. Love it.
Congratulations, Class of 2016. We somehow made it.
