In all my years spent in the educational system, never have I ever wished so badly for a magical button that could just pause life and keep things the way they are right now.
My greatest fears in life used to be of things like the dark, snakes or getting a shot from the doctor — simpler fears for simpler times. These days, I find myself worrying about bigger things like failing in life, getting older, and worst of all changing in ways I can’t control. When I kissed high-school goodbye for what was (finally) the last time, I never imagined that I’d be trading a set of considerably smaller problems for ones that would have me contemplating my own existential crisis every other week.
The years we spend in college are not only the best years of our lives but quite possibly the most stressful. We’re young and independent and finally free to study and pursue the things we want. Yet, there’s always that one fear looming in the distance. That fear can only be described as the inexplicable dread you feel when you realize that your first semester at college happened almost two years ago, and wait — am I halfway finished with my degree?
Cut the cameras – deadass.
When I was younger, I wished for change — to be a little older, a little wiser and a little more like the adults I looked up to. Then I went to college, went to bed one night and woke up with everything I had wished for and a little more.Â
College is a time in our lives where we’re not only being pitted against the clock to figure out exactly what we want to do and be in life, but we’re still under the pressure of learning all the things we may not know yet. In my first semester of college, I moved two-hundred miles from home without even the slightest idea of how to cook. Now I’m worrying about things like my credit score.
Life comes at you fast and we’re all going through a period in our lives where we have to make big decisions while simultaneously figuring out who we are.
Sometimes I find myself missing the way things were a year ago, or even five years ago, and while there’s nothing wrong with missing the past, trying to relive moments that already happened won’t do you any favors moving forward.
Instead of thinking about “what was” I like to try and focus on what “could be.”
Not everything stays the same way forever and that’s part of what makes life so exciting. Each day we get to go out into the world and try something new or begin a new adventure. We’re only getting older and change is something that can’t be avoided, which is why it’s so important to make every moment in the present worthwhile.Â
If we really had a button that could pause the present so we could live in these moments now forever — we’d get bored (eventually). There also remains the fact that not everything changes, there are things in this life that will always be the same no matter what, like the way we feel when we laugh with a friend, or the love in our hearts when we’re surrounded by family.
So, maybe change isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe we just need to change the way we feel about change.Â