Picture this: you’re watching the final season of your favorite TV show, living in blissful ignorance of the finale drawing closer and closer. The show itself feels no different than it did last season, and it feels like it will continue forever. But then, you hit that one episode that makes you realize it’s all coming to an end. The first series-long plotline has finally met its conclusion. The string tying the will-they-won’t-they couple together gets knotted, and there are no more questions. The worst character gets what they deserve. The breath gets stolen from your lungs, and you check to see how many episodes you have left, but you’re met with nothing, just previously watched episodes and suggestions for a new series to start.
For the past four years, my life has revolved around college. I spent my summers thinking about how my dorm room would look, my fall semesters thinking about what I would gain, my winter break wishing I was with my friends, and my spring semesters thinking about what the next year would bring. This spring semester is different, though. Instead of considering what classes I’ll take or what new experiences my friends and I will have on campus, I’m thinking about my future. I’m considering getting another degree. I’m considering moving back home and leaving Manhattan; I’m thinking about how my friends and I will be spread across the East Coast with nothing but FaceTime and LinkedIn to keep us connected.
I’ve grown so much from who I was before college until now. I’ve changed so drastically and had so many unbelievable experiences that 18-year-old me wouldn’t even recognize me. I’ve learned that being wrong is okay. I’ve realized that asking for help isn’t the end of the world. You can admit you have no idea what you’re doing and continue with life. Boys aren’t everything. Actually, they don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I’ve taught myself to focus more on the present, rather than miss it by living in the future.
As Taylor Swift so brilliantly said, “How can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty-two.” My experiences in college have left me enlightened in many ways. I know so much more than before, but I can also acknowledge that I understand nothing. I’ll be forever learning, and I’ve genuinely fallen in love with that idea. I may be finishing college, and I may be graduating, but I get to hold onto all of the experiences, friendships, and opportunities that I’ve come into contact with during my time here.
College has been a lot of things for me, but it was truly the one thing I was never expecting. Something I could never fathom letting go of. My plotlines are being resolved. Slowly, but it’s still happening. Choices are being made that will reveal true feelings or keep them hidden. Characters have been written out, and characters have been introduced, but now the cast stays the same. Soon they’ll get their spinoff shows, I will get my reboot, and this show will leave an impact on those who’ve been along for the ride. Hopefully, those who weren’t there initially can be introduced to my show down the line, and they can acknowledge its impact on themselves like I have before.