While it feels unbelievable to me, I’ve finally reached the point of college that eventually greets us all: graduation. This light at the end of the tunnel, a big milestone moment, is just as exciting as everyone says it is. Everything except the present is uncertain, though, and that scares me.
Of course, I’ve been reflecting on my senior year, finding comfort in the memories I’ve made. In doing so, I’ve crafted a list of the three lessons that I’ll be carrying with me past graduation and into post-grad life.
The Rewards of Discomfort
A fun fact about myself is that risk aversion is basically my middle name. I’ve never been one to take risks, knowing that I always feel safer when I stick to what I know. The issue with that? Never trying anything new means never discovering anything new.
In true 2016 fashion, I made my motto for the year, “You only live once… YOLO!” Unironically, it’s been some of the best pieces of life advice I’ve ever followed.
Is living without any risk living at all? I’m not sure. I don’t have the answers to every big life question. What I’ve discovered this year, however, is that doing the things unfamiliar to us, the things that scare us, can be incredibly rewarding.
It felt uncomfortable to visit office hours on a busy day. It was scary trying a new going-out spot or a new hobby. It was uncomfortable introducing myself to people I’d never talked to before. Yet, each of these has brought me rewards I otherwise wouldn’t have received.
Accountability and Self-Advocacy
By the end of this semester, something I realized I needed to work on was accepting my mistakes and asking for help when I needed it. I’ve discovered that, more often than not, admitting I need help isn’t the end-of-the-world scenario I think it is. Am I good at asking for help? No. After four years of intense academic studying, though, I’ve finally started to realize it’s okay to do.
Be open and honest with your professors. Ask for that extension! Turning in something late? Be honest about why, and own up to the mistake. Visit office hours. Have a night in when you need it. If you don’t advocate for yourself, who will? Be the first to show up for yourself, and others will follow.
Prioritizing Self-Compassion and Whimsy
This year, I found that one of the most important things was to maintain self-compassion. Self-love, I find, isn’t the be-all end-all I thought it was. Continuing to regard yourself positively is great, but it’s the kindness and grace that I extend to myself that have really kept me afloat both this semester and during finals season.
Choosing my health, my wellbeing, and my own happiness has been more than rewarding. This can be even something as simple as choosing to sleep instead of studying when I have a headache.
Accountability with mistakes is important, but so is kindness. Forgiving myself for a small slip-up here and there is possibly the most important thing I’ve learned this year. After all, perfection doesn’t exist, so how could I ever achieve it? A mistake now and then is inevitable, and that’s okay.
Yes, the future is uncertain. What’s certain, though, is that living by these lessons has made my senior year memorable in the best ways possible. The memories I’ve created, not only throughout college but especially now at the end, will be ones I treasure.
That is, in part, thanks to these lessons, and because of that, I’ll be carrying them with me into post-grad life. Now, the future is just a tad less scary.
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