The Weekly Edit #2

It's the last leg of the journey; the homestretch so to say. With the end of spring break, the last chunk of the semester finally arrived and at the end of it... graduation! I can't believe that it's all happening so quickly. As nice as that past week of not having to wake up early or sit in hours of lectures has been, going back to school holds both an exciting yet stressful essence to it as I give my all to finally accomplishing this achievement. And now finals week is here and like the final lap in a race, the finish line feels so close and that final exertion of energy is needed to push us to it.

After sixteen years of homework, late nights, projects, and exams, I can already taste the freedom that graduation day will bring. I can't help but imagine what the next chapter of my life holds for me. But as exciting as it can be, there are also many times when I truthfully find myself stressing over that concept of the future, feeling like I need to have that part planned out and ready for me to jump into. Many nights, I found myself staying up late trying to search for jobs to apply to or crying over the thought that I can disappoint so many people by not having a straight answer about what I'm going to do next. That pressure of wanting to please everyone by taking the traditional path of immediately throwing oneself into their 9 to 5 has been a weight on my shoulders, that I finally realized is causing me unnecessary stress and distraction from what I truly need to focus on now.

I feel that many times we worry so much about what needs to happen next that we forget to celebrate and soak in what we have just accomplished. Whether it be after winning a game or receiving an honor, we immediately put our heads straight into preparing or working for what we must achieve next. We fail to treat ourselves with the recognition and break we deserve from working so hard for that moment, whether it be big or small.

It's so important for us to realize that there is so much more to life than school, work, more work, and then even more work. We need to be in the moment and take part in what's happening now, rather than worrying about the future. Having this reminder has helped me enjoy the present so much more and be fine with not knowing what comes next. No matter how much worrying or stressing we do, it does not affect our ability to control what will happen next in our lives. And every adult I've shared my concerns with, who I'm sure have gone through these same dilemmas, has ensured me the same thing and that worrying is just a waste of time. Although we may not know what comes next, we need to remain hopeful, knowing that the opportunity that is meant for us will arise when it is the right time.

No one can truly have their life perfectly planned out for them. Rather than wasting our energy on the negative, we need to place it in the places we know make us happy; in the places that celebrate every victory we achieve and allow us to sit back and enjoy what our hard work has allowed us to accomplish and have now.