Semester’s end means change is coming

You always think there will be more time.

Sure, it’s easy to accept that college won’t last forever in theory. It’s just a couple years of your life before you move out and take on adulthood full-force, with all the responsibilities that entails.

But nearing the end of another spring semester adds some perspective to this idea — what happens when at some point graduation does finally come? What things do we hold onto when we walk down Old Main for the last time? Are we going to feel ready?

I don’t mean to sound quite so dramatic — I’m not even graduating this spring — but I do think there’s merit in considering these questions.

First, what happens when graduation comes? Is it anything like graduating high school? Do you swear you’ll stay in touch with the people you’ve come to know only to find out life is a bit more complicated when your friends become scattered and unforeseen challenges arise and opportunities open up? How often do you talk with those who’ve graduated before you?

And that’s just trying to guess all the things that’ll change. Perhaps the more intriguing question lies in what things will stay the same.

I’ve stated before in this column my belief that college is as much about learning who you are as it is finding a major and satisfying your depth requirements. So who do you become after university life is behind you? Do you stay the kind of person who pursues education? Are you going to keep finding ways to better yourself and horizons to expand on? What are your goals past college?

Are all of your life’s ambitions reachable by age 30? What then? I hear there’s a lot more to life than your 20’s, after all.

Will you settle into the comfort a good job provides? There’s certainly no shame in that, the goal for most people here is to apply their education to their chosen field. Did you choose something to do for a living that actually makes you feel like you’re alive?

Lastly, are you going to be ready?

Okay, trick question.

I don’t know a lot of things, but here’s one of the things I know — feeling ready is a bit of a myth. You weren’t ready for 15 credits of college courses when you got here. It hit you in the mouth and you just handled it, and after a semester or two you adjusted to your new way of life.

Graduates aren’t ready to graduate. Parents aren’t generally ready for kids. Rookies aren’t ready for the big leagues. Sometimes for great things to happen a leap has to be taken, and at the close of another school-year that time is rapidly approaching for a lot of us. I’d like to believe it’s relatively normal not to feel ready for what comes next.

So get out and take risks and do all the stuff you said you’d do this semester and start accepting that for better or worse, change is coming. There’s still plenty of time.

— Logan Jones is a junior majoring in journalism. He wrote today’s column while listening to Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” on repeat. Contact him at logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @Logantj.