With graduation around the corner, I am watching my friends and sorority sisters pop champagne, take beautiful photos with their caps and stoles and brag about what grand adventures they are on to next. As I watch from a distance I am happy for them, they are off to do amazing things, but I am envious and somewhat embarrassed of myself for not graduating with them.
I graduated from high school in 2014, meaning that if I was on track I would be graduating next to them this spring but life does not always work like that.
After two years of college, I had already changed my major once and was still unhappy. Going into college I had a very clear plan but it was not working out and I needed a change. I made the decision to transfer schools and when that did not work I took a year off. I never imagined myself taking time off from school, I love school, but after two years of what I thought was hell, I needed a minute to breathe. By the end of my year off, I was eager to get back to school, with a new major and a new outlook. Now I was back to school with my friends and sisters, but things were different.
Taking a year off and switching majors twice meant that I was behind and would not graduate with my friends. I accepted my fate by getting my degree in three and a half years instead of four, which to me was an accomplishment, but others did not look at it that way.
Family members have made the remark, "oh, you're graduating late". Friends and peers I graduated high school with ask about my plans and seem to be smug when I say I will not be walking across the stage with them. I am constantly defending myself saying that I am graduating faster than they are and that I took time off, as if I need to defend myself.
Guess what. I am not graduating "on time" and that is okay.
Life is not always linear, school is not linear. After 15 years of school I took a year off and needed it. There is no shame in graduating "late" because guess what, you are graduating which is a huge accomplishment. We do not have to fit into the time frame society has set for us, some people can graduate fast and others may take longer but that is nothing to be ashamed of. I came into college with a plan and that was not the right one for me. If I had stayed in school I would have hated my degree and would not have been happy with myself so instead I made a change.
I am proud of myself and of what I have done in my last year of school. The last year has been full of incredible opportunities that I would not have gotten if I stayed on my original path. Next semester when I graduate I will be over the moon, celebrating my accomplishment on my own time.
Here is to the class of 2018, both spring and fall and everything in between.
