The Best Four Years
"It'll be the best four years of your life"
- Anyone and everyone when you told them you got in to college.
While I will always love the nights spent playing guitar with strangers til midnight, drunkenly dancing to Backstreetboys, and engaging in your classic collegiate philosophical debates, I hate the idea that college will be the best four years of my life. I did not spend four years bathing in caffeine during finals season, avoiding death during Boston's abominable snow storms, and most importantly, withstanding several dorm hallway renditions of Wonderwall for life to go downhill from here.
Up until now, I've always looked at adulthood as some abstract thing out there in some distant somewhere in the universe. My vague notions of adulthood were strung together with stress from work, kids, and, bills. It wasn't fun or cool or sexy. None of the adults I knew were dancing to Backstreet Boys on their weeknights. They were grinding the midnight oil balancing their checkbooks and talking about how tired they were. So, my narrow vision never widened to see a bright side to growing up. And so, nervous about the prospect of what post grad life had to offer, I decided to dig deeper and get the inside scoop from real life adults. Before I packed up the Fireball and the Backstreet boys CD, I needed to know fully what life would become post graduation. And so I turned to the "pros". First up, was my Amy, my down-to-Earth, charismatic professor. Having been her student and her TA, our relationship spurred some of the most important conversations I'd had in college- from what jobs to take to how to live a meaningful life. Looking back our conversations, I know Amy's life hadn't drastically declined since college. I could see that she was living the best years of her life, beaming, overflowing with an infectious love of life and of the people around her. I looked to Mei , my bitingly sarcastic and brilliant friend. Unsurprisingly, when I talked to her, I could see that Mei was crushing it. She was fresh out of college, already excelling at her Marketing job , up for a promotion and even getting enough sleep (I know.) But, to a college student who literally learned to sleep with her eyes open during class, this is a big deal). On top of these feats, she was reconnecting with old friends and taking up swing dancing and aerial yoga. Almost overnight, she had transformed into a completely different person and built an entirely new life. But, she was thriving.
Last, I looked to Sam my former boss. Sam is just one of those people's whose personality radiates, announcing itself loudly and unapologetically. Knowing she wouldn't take offense, I asked her bluntly if she had peaked in college. She replied "No defs not". Her words saturated with joy as she described working with students that she loved, taking Improv classes, reading Feminist novels, and going to Indie concerts. This wasn’t a girl in the wake of her college years, but rather a woman at the dawn of her life. Leaving me with a phrase that one of her mentors had given her, she said to me: "College shouldn't be the best four years of your life. The best four years should be the next four years".
As I pieced together the narratives of these women, my subtle aversion subsided giving way a into a blossoming excitement. Yes adulthood would be filled with stress over bills, mortgages, life insurance policies, kids, and a dozen other things. But if I played it right, adulthood would also bring me joy of working towards a career I loved, bravery to fiercely pursue my passions, and the wisdom to share what I've learned with those around me.
Instead of mourning the end of my college days, I want to challenge myself to the make next four years better than the last, and almost as good as the next. And while I'm not sure that the next four years has aerial yoga and a family in store for me, I've found my own ways to guarantee at least minimal success in Year 1 of Operation "Best Four Years".
Sing my heart out twice a day, if not everyday
Attempt to write out 2 songs per month
Become a piano/guitar prodigy
Go to at least 4 concerts and 4 Broadway shows this year
Start driving around and see where I end up
Play at least 3 open mic/karaoke nights
Go to at least 3 auditions
Carefree and indulgent eating (as much as I can without risking heart disease)
Be the best big sister ever while being the best daughter ever
Do some good for my community
Picnic in central park with my mom and cousin Nat
Dance everyday , if possible drunkenly to Backstreet boys or other choice 90s boy bands
attempt athleticism - re: kickboxing/ Pilates/ leaving my bed
Go to Scotland or Ireland/Marry an Irish or Scotsman( both options are fine with me)
Take painting or pottery classes
Learn to cook
Reapply to Fulbright
Date someone good and fall happily in love
Laugh everyday
Learn/ Grow/ Explore
It's 2018 now. I'll check back in 4 years.
So here's to the next four years, fourty years and beyond. May you the be best, and if not, may you keep getting better.