I am not going to graduate in time. And that is OK.

If I was a freshman and this realization went through my naive little head, there would have been some ugly meltdown. Now, I know that I am going to be OK. I feel as though I came a long way on my journey of college. A major reason why I am not graduating on time is that I switched majors.

It felt like a burden was lifted off my shoulders. I decided I didn't want to chug along the last year of my life at university barely scraping by with the hard-earned C's and B's from difficult classes. I wanted to be in classes where I wanted to learn the material enthusiastically and felt confident in. With another year of school ahead of me, I feel as though I have been given a second chance. I have more time to think about what I really want to do, where I want to go, and what kind of person I want to be in the next chapter of my life.

I remember telling someone that I would be graduating a year later, and they said, "Oh my god, really? Wow, how can you stand it here? It must be really rough for you." I shrugged my shoulders and didn't say anything back. But thinking back on this moment, I wish I told that person that I couldn't be happier where I was at.

Some may think that I have completely wasted my first four years and squandered the hard work I put in. But the way I see it is that if I didn't take those hard classes and just sat on my ass, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I wouldn't have been able to figure out what I didn't want out of life. How would I know what I really wanted out of my life, if I was always curious about what those experiences and lessons really taught me?

The realization of being at my university for another year really makes me appreciate it more. I can take my time, sit back and really think. By being out of the fire and into the frying pan, I can take off from my last year of college with a proper plan. I am content to be in the moment I am in now and I look forward to this new chapter in my life.