By Gisselle Hernandez, Features Editor
As finals week creeps upon us, we prepare to depart this rollercoaster of a semester (aren’t they all). Although I’d like to bid it goodbye by bellowing my farewell from the rooftops, one last column with me lecturing you on the usual will have to suffice.
I don’t graduate until next semester, and I might not be experiencing senioritis too much as yet, but I have many friends who are. It’s terrifying to look at – your sleep-deprived senior friend who spends their last school days curling into a ball, rocking back and forth murmuring something about “no jobs in this economy” as they stare off into some dark future unseen to you. It’s really hard to deal with something like that in front of you; so I deal with it the only way I know how: offer an awkward pat on the back (it doesn’t do much, but it stops the rocking, at least.)
But in all seriousness, we know change can be pretty scary. Especially after Winslow’s menu changes being the only thing you had to worry about for the last four years of your life. Whatever comes after this semester, whether graduating and moving back home or to your country, pursuing grad school, finding a job or just enjoying your Winter Break, they all go towards the next phase of your life.
Focusing on possibly failing in that next phase won’t do you any favors because, inevitably, you will. I’ve felt helpless when friends approach, asking advice on how to deal with the reality and changes that loom overheard and how they can avoid them. I think by now, you’re smart enough to realize you can’t. Of course, that doesn’t make it easier to accept certain things.
Like you might not walk on this campus again, might not see the same close friends anymore or might not come home to that familiar dorm room after a stressful class. But there will be more places that will become familiar to you and more faces you’ll look forward to seeing every day, whether at a new school, new job or even when you take a new class.
As you venture off into your next adventure, even if you’re coming back to Murray in the spring, it’ll no doubt be different than what you’re used to. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Humans like conformity, but not only do new experiences help you grow, but it makes life interesting as well.
So here’s to all of you fretting over whether you might totally fail at adulting, or think it won’t get any better than your days in college. Appreciate the now, but I urge you to go on and make your life even more interesting.