There is a ton of different diseases and conditions with the suffix-itis attached to them, but perhaps the most daunting of those is senioritis. This is a horrible plague that overtakes those in their final years of college or high school and completely turns their lives upside down. The only known cure is, well, graduation. Here are the six stages of senioritis.
Denial
Denial is undoubtedly the easiest of the six stages. It is the time when seniors continue to live their lives with the same gusto as they did the three years before. It still hasn't technically hit them that the "best years of their life" are all but finished. It feels like just yesterday their parents were dropping them off for their first day and they were hiding in their rooms afraid to go out and meet new people. Heck, there are still nights when bowls of cereal replace a fully balanced dinner.
Shock and Pain
Finally, it hits that this is really the last year of high school or college. The shock is notated with questions of "How did I get here?" or "So, I only have 12 more credit hours left. Really?" The shock can come all at once or in its own mini stages. Just remember that it's important to call up the other members of the crew so you can all go through this together. Along with shock comes the pain. Thankfully not physical pain but pain nonetheless. This is the time seniors spend with their friends reminiscing on the past three years and being saddened by the fact that they are about to enter the "real world."
Bargaining
Although some people are ready to take that next step into the rest of their lives, a lot of people aren't. This stage is specifically for them. They would much rather have the title of "Super Senior" than that of "Graduate." At this point, the most extreme victims of senioritis begin considering failing classes or taking less credit hours or worse picking up another major/minor in order to get just one more year out of their respective university. Luckily, most seniors don't actually do those things because college is simply too expensive for unnecessary victory laps.
The Upward Turn
This is the time period where the dust from the shock, pain and bargaining begins to settle and the senior student is on their way to acceptance. It's characterized by less crying, whining, anxiety attacks and wondering what the heck they're going to do.
Reconstruction and Working Through
It's time to reconstruct our minds and work through the tedious process of being a senior. That means applying for graduation, meeting with advisors, dusting off our resumes and everything in between. All of the nitty gritty is handled in this stage and if they're lucky, some seniors hit this stage early on in their final semester and go ahead and secure a job to ease their minds even more.
A Little Too Much Acceptance
Surprisingly enough this is the hardest stage of the horrible disease dubbed senioritis and is the stage that's most recognizable. Seniors have fully accepted the best years of their lives are over and have done everything to secure their futures after graduation (or not). Either way, now college or high school seems like the worst thing known to mankind and seniors are just ready to be done. They no longer care if they make an A in Senior Seminar. C's get degrees, right? Skipping class becomes more normal than attending. The level of f***s to give is at an all time low and each day drags by at a ridiculously sluggish pace. This is hands down the category that gave senioritis its name.
No matter how much people wash their hands, cover their noses when they sneeze or have their daily dose of Emergen-C, all seniors will catch senioritis and go through these six stages. It's a painful roller-coaster of a year, but it's inevitable. So just take each day as it comes and remember that you can only be a senior once (or twice).
