Everyone always says, “Time flies when you're having fun."

It's pretty crazy how fast time flies by, especially when you start growing up, getting older, and moving on with your life. Since time flies so fast you have to learn to move on and let the past go, because you are never going to get that time back.

As I finished up my sophomore year of college it really hit me that I am already half way done, and inevitably getting closer to entering the real world. It feels like I was just meeting my kindergarten class, sitting on the carpet next to my classmates. It seems like I was just a young girl, in her awkward middle-school stage, going to my high school freshmen orientation. It feels like I was just attending my senior prom with all of my life-long childhood friends. It feels like yesterday I was trying to decide where I wanted to go to college. Now a lot of us are halfway through or finally graduating college, and we are going our separate ways and starting our futures.

Time really does fly by.

Looking back on it now, I noticed everyone thinks high school and college is what life is all about. They think this is what your whole life is based around, and that is what is going to stick with you forever. But I have realized that that is not the case.

My dad always told me, “When you look back on your life these years are only a small portion of it, so don't sweat the small stuff”. Of course I never believed him till now; after I am already at the end of the road of my school years.

Everyone told me those years were going to go by in a blink of an eye, but I didn’t believe it. Honestly, I personally thought those years were going to be the majority of my life. Until now because those years are coming to an end, and I realize I have so much more life ahead of me.

When you really think about it, you begin to understand that high school and college is only a small part of your life. Who cares about the girls who talked behind your back? Who cares about the people who judged you and who made fun of you? Who cares if you didn't win prom queen? Who cares about the boy you thought you fell in love with and who broke your heart? I realized that none of that matters. No one's opinion of you throughout those years is going to matter in the long run, and they aren’t going to determine your life long reputation.

Once that small portion of your life is gone, you shouldn’t dwell on it. Time is moving forward, and so should you. Time is flying by, your teenage years are flying by, your life is flying by, so don’t spend it thinking about the small memories of your past.

As time goes on, we are always making memories we will never forget. However, we are also only getting through small portions of our lives. The big, real world lies ahead of us.

It’s time to start thinking about the next journey on which our lives will take us, as those will go away in a blink of an eye too. Before we know it, we will be getting internships, jobs, finding our soul mates, getting married, buying our first house, starting a family, and sending our kids off to college.

Everyone should learn to cherish every moment, because time can move on without you and there’s no need to get stuck in the past.