If You’re Feeling Nervous About Graduating, Read This

As I enter my fourth and final year of university, I have begun to experience many “last moments.” In the past few weeks alone, I experienced my last time volunteering for orientation week, my last first day of my undergraduate career and my last time registering for courses.

Entering your fourth year is bittersweet. You’re excited for the future and the potential it holds because the possibilities are endless. But it can also be a little scary because you don’t really know what is going to become of you, though this fact is also exhilarating because you can be whomever you want to be. There are no limitations on where you can go or what you can do.

In turn, this is also extremely daunting. Not knowing what’s going to happen is terrifying because what if it goes horribly wrong and you don’t accomplish everything you’ve set out to do? What if everything you’ve spent your whole life preparing for doesn’t work out? What if you fail?

These are the questions that plague so many senior students.

You are not alone.

I’m extremely excited to start this final chapter and see where the year will take me, what kind of amazing memories I’m going to make, but all the while I can’t help but ignore the fact that, in the next 8 months everything will be different. The city and school I’ve called home for the past four years will no longer be there to comfort me when I’m feeling lost, and the people I’ve chosen as my family will no longer be a 5 minute walk away.

Soon we will all be off chasing our own dreams and following our own hearts as individuals. Honestly, I can’t wait to see my Facebook feed filled with photos of friends getting their Masters or PhD’s, getting their first job in their desired field, buying a house or car, or traveling the world. I’m excited to see where the world will take them and I will be there cheering them on from wherever I may be, and I know they’ll be cheering me on too.

Graduation has always seemed so far away, but now it seems too real. Everything is happening so fast and there are only 8 months left to soak everything in. It feels like only yesterday my parents were dropping me off at university, and helping me move into my dorm room.

Now every ‘last moment’ is just another goodbye.

So, to all my soon to be graduates out there: make sure to cherish every moment, even the difficult ones. Go out on Monday night even if you have 8:30 class the next morning, order the large pizza at 10am because you’re too lazy to make breakfast. Embrace the library all-nighters, the never-ending essays, assignments, and tests. Let your roommate wear your favorite shirt to the bar or stay in and watch horrible reality TV shows together while convincing one another that you could totally have your own TV show because of all the crazy things you do.

Because before you know it you will be writing your last exam, packing up your things, and failing to hold back tears as you hug your roommates and friends goodbye.

This year is going to be one filled with bittersweet goodbyes and as much as we want it to, university can’t last forever. Make the most of it and try not to worry too much about the future. Because if there is one thing I know for sure it’s that the universe has a funny way of balancing itself so trust me when I tell you, everything will work out in the end.

Featured image via Pang Yuhao on Unsplash

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