So, I am helping out at my father's office today shredding away about a stack the size of me to pieces and blaring music to block out the tedious sounds of computers typing away, when I check my email. The subject read, "Welcome to Spring semester students!". Furrrrrrrplumppppp!!! Yeah, I think my heart just fell out of my body and into the shredder. It was finally dawning on me that I am entering my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE EVER!!!!!!! This is not only insanity, but I feel like this should also be somewhat illegal. First of all, the lady at the nail salon last week thought I was 16 and secondly, where did these past four years even go (if found, please return ASAP)? As much as I am excited to enter this new phase in my life, it is hard to grasp the concept of I will not be even remotely close to Athens, GA. next year. My days of weekly Saturday football games and nightly library and Cook Out visits were finally coming to an end. I mean, don't get me wrong, as someone who loves to read/write, I am a sucker for endings and closure. Sometimes it's just hard to close the book even when there is a sequel coming soon. Recently I have been divulging myself in a book titled "The Defining Decade" by Meg Jay. For all my twentysomethings out there who are low key (okay...maybe high key for some...not gonna point fingers), stop what you are doing and go to your Barnes and Nobles and buy this book. Jay writes of all aspects of your twenties such as your career, relationships, your body, etc. It really puts you in the perspective of people going through the same hardships and how to overcome them and make your twenties a truly "defined decade" in your life. However, one article recently just caught my eye. In the chapter labeled, "Do the Math", Jay speaks about some issues that I think I have been recently struggling with. Time. Whether it's not having enough time or wanting to stop time, it is always our biggest enemy. I believe many twentysomethings share the same issue with time. Ever since Kindergarten, we have lived our lives around perfectly packaged semester-sized chunks of time and goals within. However, after graduation, the clock takes a little turn. Jay explains,
"The twentysomething years are a whole new way of thinking about time. There's this big chunk of time and a whole bunch of stuff that needs to happen somehow." (Jay, 189).
This quote really got me thinking. While I am mourning over the fact I do not have super powers and cannot set back the clock to freshman year, I am wasting valuable time to be doing something productive. As frightening as it sounds, in the next ten years I hope to graduate, get my first job, settle into a new city, and perhaps find a nice male suitor who wants to put a ring on it. Complaining is not going to stop the inevitable end to this chapter in my life. You'd think an avid reader like myself would know that no great story was only written in one chapter. Time to look forward to turning the page to whatever lies ahead in the world of Mack. But first, I should probably work on getting to my first class.
Xoxo,
Mack