College has flown by for me, as I’m sure it has for many of you. This is the last summer I have before graduating, which means that it’s pretty much the last summer before I have to grow up. I am staring adult life directly in the face, and it’s fucking terrifying. My friends that just graduated all either have jobs that are paying them more money than I would even know what to do with or going to more years of school, and honestly, I don’t know what’s scarier. Over the past few days, I’ve begun to realize that even though watching my parents leave me at college and trying not to cry like the pussy I am feels like a it was yesterday, I’m a fuck of a lot closer to having to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life than I am to wandering around campus in hopes of being charged five dollars to enter a sweaty, cramped basement and drink three lukewarm Natty Ices. Like I said: it’s fucking terrifying.
I’m sure a lot of you reading are in somewhat similar situations – at least I hope you are. I guess the point of me writing this blog is to hopefully let other people who have fallen in love with the complete lack of real responsibility that comes with being a college student know that you’re not on your own. Everybody goes on and on about how exciting it is to be nearing graduation and “finally being out on your own,” but I don’t feel excited at all. In fact, I’m dreading one year from now. One year from now, where I’ll be leaving any semblance of childhood behind for taxes, rent, a 9-5, and all the other bullshit that the world forces on a group of people that weren’t legally allowed to buy a beer until some months before. It feels sort of criminal. But it’s not here right now – not yet.
You don’t have to be a grown-up for a little while. You don’t have to start thinking about marriage and a family and the economy and if you can afford to live in a certain neighborhood. It’s coming. But it isn’t here yet.
So, enjoy what’s left. Do what you have to do to get yourself set up for real life, but don’t throw yourself into that life before you have to.
Get drunk. Make stupid decisions. Do something that you might not ever get the chance to do again. Prioritize your friends – I can guarantee it won’t be the way it is now for much longer. Say fuck it and live without regret. Have fun. Enjoy this part of life. It’s okay to be shitting bricks about the next steps, but don’t let that ruin the time you’ve got left. I doubt at twenty-one years old I’m someone that most people would tell you to listen to. In fact, if they’ve read any of my other blogs, I’d bet they would tell you to treat every word out of my mouth with the same amount of importance you’d treat your morning shit – and hey, maybe they’d be right. Maybe the guy telling you to not worry so much about the future and focus on packing as much irresponsible fun into what’s left of college isn’t someone to take life advice from. But I’ll be taking my own advice because I know that I’ve got about another eighty years to figure life out. I’ve only got about one year left, though, to be a complete and total idiot, so I plan to do just that. I hope you’ll join me.
