As a senior in college, leaving school seems very exciting, fulfilling, and overall awesome, but at the same time it also seems extremely terrifying, and I think that’s okay.

I am excited to graduate and finish school for good. After all, I’ve been in school since I was five years old, and finally not having to worry about it seems great. However, nobody seems to talk about the other side of it. Now we are all expected to go out and become something and I’m still not completely sure I know what I want to do.

“You’re kind of on a set path and now everything is up in the air. It’s not like, here’s where you go, here’s where you sign up now, it’s going to be what are you excited about? What are you passionate about?”  Professor of Communication Ryan Medders said.

The next step in the process is not determined as it has been for so many years and I think that that’s where a lot of the fear comes from going out into the world and finding a way to contribute and provide for yourself and potentially others. It all seems so overwhelming. 

“Any time a life transition occurs there can be feelings of both excitement and fear, or even sadness. Life will be changing in some way or form. So yes, fear is a valid and normal concern for college graduates,” Anna Guerin, director of Counseling and Psychological Services said in an email interview.

But having a transition in life is not the only thing that can be frightening, I also worry about the relationships and friendships I have made during my college experience. Obviously, those people who really care will still try to keep in touch and maintain that friendship but still, I wonder about how many friends I’m going to see for the last time at graduation.

It’s scary to think about losing friends that I care about but I think that’s just part of what it means to become an adult. We are all expected to find our own paths, and many times that includes having to lose people we care about while we each try to find our own success story

All of these feelings culminating together as well as the stress of finishing up final projects and making sure my grades are good enough so that I actually can graduate, it feels almost suffocating. It’s hard to find time to just let myself chill out and breathe for a minute.

“Giving yourself patience and time to adjust to the next phase of life, try as best as you can not to compare yourself to others, remember this is your own life path, say good-bye to friends, professors, and mentors, find ways to stay in touch, create and stick to a new routine, use your support system, remind yourself of your accomplishments and the fears you have managed in the past,” Guerin said.

In today’s world where everyone posts almost everything they do on social media, it’s easy to compare ourselves to others that we see and I think that it’s important to realize that just because someone else your age has things figured out that does not mean that you have to as well.

I think that the first few years after college are for experimenting and finding out what you are truly passionate about, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to start a career as soon as you are finished with college.

I think that there are a lot of uncertainties with graduating and I think it is ok to feel scared or overwhelmed but I think it’s also important to not compare yourself with others, and it’s ok to take time to figure out what you really want to do.