When you begin college it seems like the next four years are so far distant, when they are actually not too far up the road. Maybe you get stuck in some traffic along the way, change to a faster lane, end up in the slow lane, or even get stuck at a complete stop. Even then, the trip never really is as long as it seems in the moments of the journey. That is what college is like.
I have been reflecting on these past four years a lot recently, considering this chunk of my life expires in about two months. When you’re going to school it’s hard not to think about wanting to get through it and become a full “adult”, but when school is about to end and being an adult becomes reality, it can seem a bit scary. The fact that you can go from having a few classes a week on all different subjects to having the same job five days a week in the matter of a few days is insane. It is easy to see this transition as a full on separation, but we take most of what we learn in these crucial, confusing, and transformative four years not only into our first jobs, but the entire rest of our lives.
While what we learn in school is important and necessary, the things we learn about life and ourselves while we are in school are what stand out in my mind. I don’t care about the artist who made the expressionist paintings by dripping paint onto the canvas or the clone stamp tool in Photoshop (although these are very useful and relevant things in my life), nearly as much as I care about the friends I have made and the memories I think back on. Not to mention the realizations that I am, in fact, not that bad of a procrastinator. I cannot commit to an idea because I have so many, and that I need to pick and choose when to be honest and give my opinion. We all have these things we have picked up on and gained for ourselves during college whether subconscious or not, and I think that is why we begin to get sentimental the closer we get to graduation.
We finally have the chance to reflect on the past four years because we are no longer in a rush for them to end. This reflection should happen more often along the way. To take a step back from the stress and workload and appreciate how we have grown, what we have learned, and all that we have accomplished, although it might not seem so obvious. College is very hard, but also very rewarding. It could be even more rewarding if we took extra time to slow down and think about the long but seemingly so short few years that shape who we are, but most importantly who we will always continue to become. I certainly plan on doing this even after my time in college comes to an end soon and I hope you all do too, before it’s too late.