Transitioning Into My Final Year as a Student

If I can account for how many years I've been in school, that would be around 22 years. If only I had the education to count during my preschool year, then I probably have the exact number. Having those 22 years of being a student, and all the sudden, it is ripped from you just like that...can be frightening. We have a that major void in our lifestyle that we are trying to find a way to fill. I'll be honest though; my mind has been wrapping around the idea of what's next after this very VERY long chapter of my life is closed. I ask myself, what am I going to do. I mean obviously, get a job, but like, it will be officially day 1 of being an adult, and the last day of being a student. You spent that many years copying and pasting the concept of being a student, but now you can't do that anymore. Now, I could say that I could possibly be going through a quarter life crisis, but let's not think about that right now. HA!

As I finished my 5th year of college and enter into my 6th year, it is hitting me a lot more that this will be my last time as a student. After that, I won't be able to have summer breaks that would span from May to August anymore. Not only that, but I won't even have month long Winter breaks nor weeklong Spring breaks. Just hearing that literally gives me goosebumps of what the future holds for me. Although hearing this may sound sad, what it does is value the time I still have left in college. Overall, I still have one more year to make the best of my final year as a student.

With my 6th year as a college student starting soon, I'd say I was able to learn a couple of fun tips and lifelong learnings along the way. I thought to myself, why not share them, because sharing is caring obviously.

1. Your friend group is like a train.

To me, I treat my life like a train ride. The goals where I want to reach to will be the destination of the ride. Along the way, there will be pitch stops where your friends either hop on, get off, or stay on. The truth is you are bound to lose people or gain people along the way. It's a normal thing to go through. As it was rough for me at first to let go of old friendships, it took some time for me to understand that sometimes, it's necessary to let those people go in order to grow for yourself. Whether you're in the right or the wrong, there is always room for improvement in yourself.

2. You fail, you get up, and you try again.

I used to always hate this line because to me, failing meant that I would have to hurt myself constantly. Failure at any certain goal or topic in life can be a gut-wrenching thing to witness for yourself. You mentally drop yourself at the bottom of the whole thinking there is no way to recover from your failures. And although it may feel like that, you have the choice to make for yourself. Whether you want to stay in that hole and allow your criticisms and failures define who you will be. Or change the narrative and become something that proves that you are more than just your failures.

3. You can have a thick skin and a big heart at the same time.

Along the way, you will run into situations that can change the course of yourself. And with those situations, you may see yourself having a thicker skin or being more cautious of your surroundings. Over time, I had this ideology believing that by having this concrete/thick skin mindset, that it was impossible for to me to ever open my heart to emotions or vulnerability. It's not about closing off your feelings 100% but knowing who you can open it up to. You are bound to be vulnerable in certain times, but there comes a time where you have to tread cautiously in knowing who, what, when, and where is it the right time to be vulnerable and open.

4. Taking a step back away from social media.

Over the course of my fifth year in college, I've taken this big step to allow myself too not be invested into social media as I was before. Instead of seeing what others are doing in life, try focusing on yourself. The ill intention of thinking you're not doing enough because you see others going out while you are indoors, is a very toxic mindset to be around. Not only that, but I've been finding ways to make social media a place where I'm not searching for validation of what I'm doing or what I'm posting. Sometimes when it comes to the turn it off comment on either your post or story replies, it really helps to stray away from needing to constantly interact on social media and just focus on doing you. Lately instead of feeling to need to communicate with others on social media constantly, it's become a post and set the phone down immediately after.

5. Take the opportunity to discover yourself

I'd like to say that there was a lot of progression in myself from my first year to now. If I can reflect back on each year I was in college, I can say how much my personality/mental health has changed since then. Although change has happened, does not mean it stops there. As I'll be 25 once I graduate college, I can say these past 6 years have been a learning experience for myself. Discovering my boundaries unlike no other and putting myself through an experimental phase where I was able to see who I am, and what I could possibly become. I am aware that sometimes change is very scary. The ideology that you can become something or someone you may like. I personally try to not think about that. Life is all about making mistakes, like I said earlier. Since I will still be in my 20s once I leave college, there is still plenty of time for me to learn about myself before it hit my 30s, in which I am not trying to think too much about as of right now.

I don't know what will happen exactly once I graduate. To be honest, I don't know what will happen this school year. There is a lot that still needs to be unfolded that I can tell you I am afraid of. Being afraid doesn't have to mean that I won' t be able to do it. Instead, it just shows how much I value the future for myself. I guess the only way to know 100% how this all plays out is allow myself to walk straight through this final college journey.