This one is for all of my wonderful college friends who are like me and won’t be going back to school this fall.
I’ve been feeling really weird and sad lately about the fact that I won’t be going back to college in a few weeks. As I watch a bunch of my younger friends buy stuff for their college dorms and pack up all their stuff, I honestly feel like I’m missing out on all the fun. This is the first time in four years I’ll be living with my parents through the fall and not living with my best friends in my college town. I mean, who wouldn’t get emotional over that? I get very nostalgic recalling moving out for the first time my freshman year or going to RA training my sophomore and junior year. At the time, I didn’t even realize how pivotal and important those times were. And I miss those days. A lot. If you’re like me, you miss them too and you don’t know what to do about how you’re feeling. So I’ve decided to just kind of spill my thoughts out on this blog post. Maybe some cliches will help.
I stumbled upon this picture (below left) deep in my computer of when my parents and little brother dropped me off at college four years ago. I’m laughing so hard at the lanyard around my neck and the fact I look bald. Compared to this picture of me and my brother at my graduation (below right) its so crazy to think of everything that happened in between those two pictures. At the time the first picture was taken, I was so scared of college and being away from my high school friends. My mom basically picked everything out in my dorm room for me because I was not at all excited to go to college. But when the picture on the right was taken, college was over. Over. The girl in the right photo would do anything to go back to her freshman year and do it all over again. And the girl in the left picture wouldn’t believe her. Its funny how that works.
I hate endings. I hate when a good thing has to end. I hate knowing that something spectacular is about to end, and all you can do is try to make the most of the time you have left before it ends. This could also apply to a relationship or the overarching concept of life, but for now I’m talking about college. I do feel like my friends and I made the most of our time at college. And now that its over, I have this overwhelming sense of “so what now?“. Don’t get me wrong; I have a great job and living with my parents again is a huge blessing. But life just went from 100 mph, to a solid 15 mph. I miss college. But I need to believe that this next stage in my life is about to be a different kind of spectacular. Thats a little difficult to think about when all I’m thinking is “wow this time last year I was moving into my house at school” or “2 years ago my friends and I were at the beach when we had a day off of RA training” or “wow I wonder what I would be doing now if I was back at school”. So here are some reminders to myself, but also to anyone else who is feeling this way.
Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened: A girl once told me this in middle school- middle school. Why has it stuck around with me for so long? Because its true. I should be happy it all happened in the first place and not totally mope that its all over. Remember how I told you how much I did not want to go to college at first? I’ve come a long way since that because my college experience had ups and downs but overall it was a fantastic time that I am so thankful I got to experience.
Take pride in how far you’ve come and have faith in how far you’ll go: The fact that I even finished college is something to be proud of. But whats the point of finishing college if I don’t do something extraordinary when I have my degree? Finishing school is a very big accomplishment. But its only the beginning of the rest of my life.
This is the beginning of anything you want: So many of my friends are doing such cool things post-graduation. Some are working their dream jobs, moving cross country, attending impressive grad schools and more. I think its important to remember that we have so many open doors to us that literally anything is possible.
There are far, far greater things ahead then any we leave behind: I told myself this when I graduated high school and at the time I only half-heartedly believed it. I really thought after my senior year of high school that life couldn’t get any better. I was wrong. So I’m trying to keep that mindset now because I don’t know what the next few years have in store for me, but I’m excited to see where I go and what I experience.
So in conclusion, I’ll miss going out to the bars the first weekend back at school. I’ll miss going to class with my new agenda book and seeing my favorite professors. I’ll miss having the total freedom I had when I didn’t live with my parents. I’ll miss my best friends being minutes away from me. I’ll miss my favorite coffee shop being right around the corner. I’ll miss happy hour with the girls. I’ll miss late nights cooking and baking with my friends. I’ll miss drinking too much on a school night and skipping class the next day. I’ll miss a lot about college when September rolls around. But at least I can look back and be happy I got to experience all of those things with some amazing people. Now I can focus on whats to come in this new chapter of my life.
Any advice for missing college after you graduate? Comment below!
Thanks for reading!xx