Well, we did it, friends. Another year in the books, and another year of an inevitable three-week period of time where I’ll refuse to unpack my clothing from the several garbage bags cluttering my floor and instead spend 40+ minutes in the morning searching for the pocket in which I packed all of my underwear. There’s something really eerie about coming home to the same room every year, the room that has a desk still cluttered with pictures from bar mitzvah photo booths, a bed sporting the same tie-dye comforter I’ve had since I was six, and a rack of gymnastics medals from the days where I chose to spend 15+ hours a week prancing around in a leotard and realizing I desperately needed to purchase my first deodorant. In three weeks it’s my 21st birthday, my 18-year-old sister is going to college next year, my puppy is now a dog, and I’ve slowly began to realize my mom is approaching me for advice, instead of the other way around. Some of my best friends are graduating, and I can’t help but notice that time is FLYING. You’re probably like, “Becca–shut up. We all know. We all know time is flying.” The carousel keeps spinning, Holden Caulfield, time is inevitable; whatever I get it–we get it. We’ve heard it, like, 193,812 times.
The thing about time and this ever so nostalgic time of the year is that I always find myself reflecting, looking back on what’s happened so far, fantasizing about what lies ahead and dreading what’s to come all at the same time. But, nonetheless, I’m always questioning whether or not I lived up to the expectations I’d set for myself. Did I do it right? Did I do my junior year right? While all of my friends were traveling the world – I stayed back in Ann Arbor. Was that right? Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe you’re graduating, maybe you just finished your freshman year, or perhaps you’ve been fumbling through your first year of post-grad life. Regardless of where you are in this whirlwind some refer to as “young adulthood” (I call it “older childhood”), I’m willing to bet you’re asking yourself these same questions. The thing about doing it right is that it doesn’t even have to be a question of large importance; it can be something as small as what you order at a restaurant. You go for dinner; your friend gets a burger and you get a salad. This might be an all too familiar, sad tale for some, but it doesn’t have to be sad. “You did it right,” you say. But, why is your salad wrong? Maybe you really wish you were eating the burger, but you’re trying to eat healthier so you get the salad. It’s a give and take scenario, delaying immediate gratification for the possibility of a more rewarding long-term one. It’s a game we play in various forms nearly every single day.