Question: I’m about to graduate, and I’m feeling so many emotions. I’m going to miss my friends, getting a real job is scary, and I feel like I’ll get FOMO every weekend. How do I manage these emotions while trying to enjoy these final moments?
Response: This is a great submission, because as a graduating senior, this is exactly what I’m tackling right now. As in, last night I was awake until 2am staring at my ceiling and asking myself repeatedly:what do I do now? And it’s not even over yet!
College is a massive experience. It’s a monumental part of our lives many of us spend years waiting for. I’m sure you also have heard over and over again these are the best days of our lives, and now they’re coming to an end. And there’s no instruction manual on how to handle it.
My advice to you is the same as the advice I have been giving to myself, inspired by my favorite George Harrison song: “Be Here Now.”
I believe burying emotions and feelings is pointless, because it’s just prolonging, in the end. I spent the first two weeks of April trying to avoid the fact that I was deeply sad about this chapter closing, and nervous about the future, too.
The best gift you can give to yourself at this moment is presence. Just be. Go get frozen yogurt with your friends, even if you have an assignment due in a few hours. Take an extra lap on your way home from class to remember how wonderful campus is in the spring. If you, too, end up sad and questioning late at night, let it be. Question. Feel it out. This exact range of feelings will only come once.
Something insightful I heard recently is you never know when a moment will be your last. You can buy a smoothie tomorrow at the rec center and not be aware you will never buy one again. So, treat every single moment like it is the last, because you never know if it is.
That may sound cryptic, but I mean it more so as an effort for you to truly appreciate everything. Going to BW is a gift. It’s a beautiful school with an even more beautiful community.
I hear you in every aspect, and I hope you take my words to heart. I think sometimes we get so caught up in not feeling the way we feel that we then are unaware of the fact that by trying to avoid it, we are actively living in what we are trying to escape.
So don’t escape anything. Play that song in your car that tugs on your heartstrings (mine’s “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap). Remember you are lucky to experience a full range of emotions, and even if they may feel hard right now, your experiences are the foundation of who you are. Just like college is, altogether.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation. Here’s the next chapter of life.
Just remember to be.
: This is a great submission, because as a graduating senior, this is exactly what I’m tackling right now. As in, last night I was awake until 2am staring at my ceiling and asking myself repeatedly: what do I do now? And it’s not even over yet!
College is a massive experience. It’s a monumental part of our lives many of us spend years waiting for. I’m sure you also have heard over and over again these are the best days of our lives, and now they’re coming to an end. And there’s no instruction manual on how to handle it.
My advice to you is the same as the advice I have been giving to myself, inspired by my favorite George Harrison song: “Be Here Now.”
I believe burying emotions and feelings is pointless, because it’s just prolonging, in the end. I spent the first two weeks of April trying to avoid the fact that I was deeply sad about this chapter closing, and nervous about the future, too.
The best gift you can give to yourself at this moment is presence. Just be. Go get frozen yogurt with your friends, even if you have an assignment due in a few hours. Take an extra lap on your way home from class to remember how wonderful campus is in the spring. If you, too, end up sad and questioning late at night, let it be. Question. Feel it out. This exact range of feelings will only come once.
Something insightful I heard recently is you never know when a moment will be your last. You can buy a smoothie tomorrow at the rec center and not be aware you will never buy one again. So, treat every single moment like it is the last, because you never know if it is.
That may sound cryptic, but I mean it more so as an effort for you to truly appreciate everything. Going to BW is a gift. It’s a beautiful school with an even more beautiful community.
I hear you in every aspect, and I hope you take my words to heart. I think sometimes we get so caught up in not feeling the way we feel that we then are unaware of the fact that by trying to avoid it, we are actively living in what we are trying to escape.
So don’t escape anything. Play that song in your car that tugs on your heartstrings (mine’s “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap). Remember you are lucky to experience a full range of emotions, and even if they may feel hard right now, your experiences are the foundation of who you are. Just like college is, altogether.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation. Here’s the next chapter of life.
Just remember to be.
