I hear, all too often, people discussing how they can't wait to be an upperclassman. They can't wait to graduate. They can't wait to start a career. A family. They can't wait to have it all together.
Well, I have great news for you. You CAN wait. You should wait.
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Think back to high school. (I know, I'm sorry to bring it up). Remember how fast freshman year went by? Probably not. You were too engulfed in the idea of finally being in high school, day dreaming of being a senior someday. What about sophomore year, though. The first time you remember looking back and thinking: damn that year flew by. Of course, it began to go by faster and faster, until you found yourself standing in front of your community with a diploma in your hand, thinking: well what now?!
Immediately, the excitement for college set in. As you began to pack up your stuff and spend your last summer at home, you were not surprised that time flew by as fast as it had previously. But then....
It got faster.
I feel like I just stated college last week, and yet they tell me I am already finished with my first year, about to begin my second. College may seem like just another four years of school, and well, ew school. Trust me, though, when I tell you that is not the case at all.
Of course college does come with a lot of responsibility. You don't have parents there to tell you NOT to book that spontaneous flight to California with your best friend for the weekend. They won't be there to stop you or tell you that it will interfere with your classes or that it is financially irresponsible.
If you take one thing from this article that you've probably stopped reading by now...let it be this: Go on that spontaneous trip to California. Get in that car for a road trip. Blast the music as loudly as you can. These ae your selfish years, where you are old enough to make the right decisions, yet young enough to make the wrong ones.
Occasionally, you'll remember you're basically an adult. You'll go out and drink some coffee without sweetener. Maybe buy yourself a plant. Go on an organic rampage and show off your Whole Foods receipt to some random 40-year-old to prove you're "getting the hang of it."
But then you'll get home and shove your receipt, your "ticket to adulthood" into a drawer admittedly full of candy, used tickets to a bunch of no-name concerts, and more relative receipts like those from bars and drunken cab rides.
You probably try to convince yourself that the kale and freezable chick-pea meals make you happier than the receipt that makes it look like you apparently bought drinks for the whole bar.
You're not old enough to know what should matter and what should be forgotten, so hold on to it all. We only have a limited amount of time to focus solely on fun and games. Cherish it.
Buy that plane ticket to Ibiza when your bank account is begging you not to. Go help your friend celebrate her birthday, even though you have to work in the morning. Stick your head out of a sun roof when it is 20 degrees in the dead of winter. Be stupid. Be wild. be kind. Don't be fickle---buy that concert ticket, that new guitar that you promise you will learn how to play, even though it will probably just sit in the closet for the rest of eternity.
Because before you know it, you'll be stuck in the adult world of having to decide between romaine and iceberg lettuce, all while juggling work calls and wild children running around the grocery store.
You can wait.
You should wait.
You have a permission slip in your hand to be reckless and carefree. Don't be afraid to sign it.
