"Enjoy these years while you can. They will be the best years of your life."

If you're in your early twenties and haven't been told this, then you're definitely in the minority. In the last few years, it feels like I've heard this statement more times than I can count. Adults are constantly reminding college students that once they graduate, it'll all be downhill from there.

But I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that my best years will already be behind me before I've even reached my thirtieth birthday. There are so many memories from this time that I will cherish forever. But spending so much time remembering will only cause you to miss all of the exciting things you still have to come.

Like getting your first job. Working long hours and many weekends so that you finally earn that dream job you've been waiting for. Or renting your first real apartment. You may have lived in one while you were in college, but now that you're out in the real world, everything just seems so much bigger than it did before. Or when you finally meet the one. The person you'll spend the rest of these amazing years with. Building a family together and settling down into the life you've always dreamed off.

But even when all of these long awaited dreams finally become reality, I know that those still won't be the best years of my life. Because after that first job comes promotions. And after parenthood comes grandparents. Life never stops moving, so neither do we. We're always changing and evolving. And wouldn't you rather believe that those changes will be for the better?

Life is full of ups and downs. There's a reason why it's often compared to a book; there will always be good chapters and there will always be bad ones. But the important thing is to keep reading. Every chapter will eventually come to an end. And when it does, it's your choice to embrace the next one with hope or with dread. College is a great time in every young persons life. And even though it is a time I have sincerely enjoyed, I pray that it will never be the best.

I hope that the best days of my life aren't spent in a classroom worrying about midterms. I hope there spent in all kinds of different places, like just one of the many foreign countries I've always wanted to see. I hope my best days aren't filled with Saturday nights spent at parties and Sundays recovering from the lack of sleep. I hope they're filled with weeknight dinners at a table surrounded by my family. And I want that family to be the one I build with the person I love most.

I don't know when the best years of my life will be, and I truly hope that I never find out. I hope that my best days, months, or years are never the ones that I'm currently living. I hope that they're always still in the future. Giving me something to strive towards and to look ahead with excitement.

It's okay if you love college, and it's okay if you don't. But I hope that sometime in my life, I find something that I love more. I will always be grateful for these years. They were a time for learning about myself and embracing my independence. And I will always look back to them and see happy memories.

But I don't want to spend my life looking back. I want to spend it looking forward at what's still to come.