As I can now start to see the end of the road for my college career in the distance, I have begun to reflect on what has gone right in helping me feel as if I have made the most of my senior year. While facing the reality that my time in college is about to come to a close and an unknown, incredibly different and new chapter is about to begin, I have found solace in maintaining a positive mindset and focusing on what I have been grateful for in my last year at the University of Illinois. To all my rising seniors, here are my best recommendations to help you anchor your senior year in gratitude and optimism, not in premature mourning.
Make a bucket list
This by far is the biggest thing I can recommend to any rising senior. Make a bucket list with your friends and a bucket list for yourself of any places, events or activities that you want to experience at your university before you graduate. Think about the food places you have been eyeing since you first stepped foot on campus but never tried. Maybe you are like me and hadn’t been to a football or basketball game yet. You can even add to your list buildings on campus you’ve never walked into or campus amenities you haven’t made use of like a pool or fitness classes or a rec center. Having a list like this of things you and your friends do not want to miss out on before you graduate is the best way to set tangible goals for things you want to do your senior year and actually do them. That way, you won’t leave feeling like you wasted your last year.
Say yes to everything
No matter what, no matter the day, say yes to everything. Become a yes man your senior year, because you will likely never have as much free time, flexibility in your schedule and as little responsibility as you do right now. Instead of letting that thought scare you, change your perspective to see it as a reason why you should take all the opportunities, both big and small, that are given to you in your senior year. Saying yes to everything is the simplest way you can ensure you graduate with no regrets about how you lived out your senior year.
Snapchat Time capsule
My friends and I had an idea at the beginning of our senior year to make a Snapchat group chat together and send all our snapchat pictures and videos from our senior year to that group chat and wait until the end of the year to watch it all together. This not only has made sure we are documenting everything and saving it to our memories, but it also encourages us to go out and do things to make those memories together. One thing I have heard from a lot of people who have already graduated is that they wish they would have taken more pictures and videos. This has been a simple, fun and sweet way to make sure we are capturing all the memories from our last year.
