Senior year: The year to last a lifetime. The last chance to leave a legacy. The last year of freedom before entering “the real world.” I’m pumped, I’m ready and I’m already running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I am passionate, involved and pumped to be a part of something bigger than myself, but many people would categorize me as overinvolved. And they’re right.

I have the incredible pleasure of being a student at the small (yet mighty) Eureka College. I have been blessed to make life-long friends, learn new skills and theories, grow as an individual, and gain incredible amounts of experience. I took the availability of campus organizations and ran full speed ahead. At any point during my college career I was a part of 5+ orgs, was an officer in at least one of those orgs, had at least one job, was taking 15-plus credit hours and had at least one volunteer opportunity going for me. I wanted to do it all. And I did. But why?

See, once I enter the workforce and leave the college days of ultimate Frisbee, late night Monopoly and old horror movie marathons, I also leave behind the college tendency to taste the world, take opportunities, open yourself up for failure. See college culture is forgiving, understanding, relative; everyone knows that you have eight meetings, three tests, and a 15-page paper due, and an event today, and they give a little leeway. But I’ve been told my whole life, and choose to believe that “That’s not how it is in the real world.” That people don’t try to understand your situation or give grace if life is hard, they want what they want and they want it now. The world doesn’t wait for you to catch up. You don’t lose one-third of a grade point if you don’t show up; you lose your job.

Any given day, I sleep five hours. Then, during my three hour break, I nap for two. The “real world” works on a different schedule, a cohesive schedule, a schedule that everyone is expected to adhere to. I embrace the ability to stay up late and have a heart to heart, because I can just nap after my 8 a.m.., but you can’t bail from work after your 10 o'clock meeting, it just doesn’t work that way.

In the workforce, you become a small fish in black hole, a microscopic dot on the map of the world. You leave school and you leave your seniority, your reputation, your routine behind. The “real world” doesn’t make you a Junior Vice President by election of your peers, it takes years of proving yourself worthy. Life is different after college, life is difficult after college. You leave a life of “ruling the school” to embrace a seemingly endless job search and monotonous office job, making coffee and answering phones. The world keeps turning after graduation, college is my four years to train, I’m not wasting my last year by being relaxed. I’m embracing the life I have and embracing the life I want.

Senior Year. The year to last a lifetime. The last chance to leave a legacy. The last year of freedom before entering “the real world.” I’m pumped, I’m ready, and I’m terrified. I love college, I love the opportunities, the people, the difference you actually see yourself making. The rest of life won’t be as simple, so I’m making the most of my moment. I’m getting ready to run the marathon of life, and I am making the most of my warm-up.