College was the best four years of my life, hands down. I hated high school and turned it all around in college.
But four years was really all I needed.
In some ways, college felt short. As I put on my graduation cap, it felt like I had just moved into a dorm I hated with a failing relationship nipping at my heels. As I walked to the ceremony with my friends, it felt like I had just been trying to crack open my shell and form those relationships I had heard everyone talking about. As I grabbed my diploma, it felt like I had just been getting lost on my way to class yesterday.
In other ways, college felt long. Because I met a lot of people that were great, but also a lot of people that were awful. I had a great education, but also some very useless classes at very early times. I had learned a lot about myself, but I had learned it the hard way.
In four years, I explored every aspect of myself. I did everything I needed to do to find out who I truly am. It took a lot of time, it took a lot of heart break, a lot of tears and fights. It included a lot of drama that was unnecessary and a lot of long late night talks that were.
When I graduated college, I was happy. I wasn’t sad to leave behind the university that taught me so much. Or the sorority that raised me. Or the professors that guided me.
Of course I would miss living with my best friends when I moved in with my parents. And I would definitely miss sleeping in or even sleeping all day without a care in the world. I would miss having less responsibilities and the ability to have fun all the time – but it’s more nostalgia than it is sadness. It was a good time, but now it’s over. Now it’s time to have different good times.
I dove head first into postgrad life and I couldn’t be happier. I shed my college self skin and found a version of myself that makes me truly happy. I still learn a lot, I still have great friends, and I still sleep in on the weekends. I appreciate everything college gave me, but I don’t miss it at all. You can’t if you look at your new life with positivity, if you give the postgrad life a chance and learn to live it up in a different way. It’s a whole new world waiting for you to explore it.
