6 Things Every College Senior Needs To Hear Right Now

If you are anything like my fellow classmates and me, you are hitting that point in your senior year when you feel like you should be getting your life together and you really just cannot get a grip. You have those overachieving friends that already have jobs lined up and worse those that already have a place to live, and they are freaking you out because the only thing you can be sure of is that come May you will be jobless, homeless, and joining the real world where Thursdays aren’t actually considered weekends and it’s not socially acceptable to wear yoga pants and sweatshirts everyday. Senior year just went from the time of your life to actually kind of frightening and you really need someone to reassure you that everything is going to be okay.
  
1. Nobody actually knows what he or she is doing. You are not alone, I promise. All those people who look like they know what they’re doing and already have a job and all that crap are lying through their teeth. Job or not, the real world is still scary and they are just as unprepared as you are (minus the unemployed thing). Stop comparing yourself to the classmate next to you. 
 
2. It’s not too late to finish that college bucket list. You are not even halfway done with your senior year yet, and that really reduced course-load I know you have set up for next year is the perfect excuse to get out there and finish that bucket list. Go skydiving. Hook up in the library. Attend a lecture you wouldn’t normally go to. Drink a beer in an academic building. Spend spring break on a service trip. Just whatever you do, don’t get expelled or jeopardize graduation.
 
3. Life doesn’t end after you get your diploma. You may have heard that these are the best four years of your life and right now you probably believe that wholeheartedly. But we have so many more years in our life. We have marriage, and families, and vacations we can maybe one day actually afford in our future. Life does not end in May when we receive that diploma. Don’t panic.

4. Call your friends and go grab a beer… now. You may still have a lot of your life before you, but when is the next time you are going to live in a 5-mile radius of all your best friends and the campus bar that has become a sort of second home. Pick up your phone, call your best friend, and go grab a beer….now.

5. Breathe. Stop panicking, take a deep breath in, and now blow it out. Stop stressing, just breathe.
 
6. It is going to be okay. Whether you already have a job lined up, are still looking, planning on moving in with mom and dad, or are going to rock a fifth year, it is all going to be okay. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.