Graduation is always fun and exciting. All the attention is on you. You have worked so hard, tirelessly, to get here. You can't wait to walk across that stage and complete a monumental moment in your life. But as soon as you walk off that stage, you have a lot of goodbyes to make, and it's not going to be easy.
1. The goodbye to your current life-
After your graduate, things will never be the same. Unlike high school, there is no more transition period. College was the last safety zone. The last chance to figure out who you are, who you want to become, before you are thrust into the real world. The scary one that everyone warns you of, that never seemed real until now. You realize that all the fears of surviving, in a new city, a new lifestyle, a new job, are all too overwhelming.
That cap and gown is the last piece of college you will ever touch and then, your new life begins. Wherever that may be.
2. The goodbye to your best friend-
This may be the hardest goodbye of them all. The person you met maybe during move in freshman year or during a hard class you stayed up late studying together for. They have been there for you. Through the bad breakups and the embarrassing nights out. They were always close by. Someone you could walk to the door of, and cry.
But after graduation, who knows where your lives will lead. Almost certainly, you both will begin different journeys...in separate cities, separate states, or separate countries. And maybe your paths will never cross again. For fate will decide.
3. The goodbye to the professor you'll never forget-
The ones who no longer treat you like a student, but a mentee...someone who truly cares about both your academic and overall future. Their advice is genuine, memorable, but most of all SO TRUE.
4. The goodbye to the person you'll never be with-
Obviously crushes are meant to be a secret, or only shared with your closest friends, but it's no secret that they are about to leave your life...getting away forever. The person that you wished you had the chance with. Maybe you're the girl who got him through the hard class because of what he thought was your simple eagerness to always help, or you're the guy who has always been the girl's right hand man, but nothing more.
For those of us who are good enough to be "a good friend" but nothing more, saying goodbye is going to sting...bad.
5. The goodbye to the person that changed your life-
This is that one person in college. The person you owe everything to. They guided you when you were lost and helped you make some of the most important, critical decisions of the past four years. This could be a boyfriend, girlfriend, mentor, ANYONE. The only requirement is that they essentially shaped who you are now. Making you a stronger, more confident person, sure of what you are capable of. This person you now recognize was sent to you for a reason...and now their chapter in your life is about to end.
You aren't sure how to cope.
6. The goodbye to your college self-
You have learned a lot in the past four years. You have grown from a scared, unsure freshmen to a person you sometimes don't even recognize...in a good way. But just like you have changed in the past, you will change after this day. Graduation will propel you toward a whole new adventure, one far scarier then the one that has just passed. And again, you will change with every passing year.
You will always continue to grow and change. So realize that the person you are in that cap and gown, will not be the person you are 3 years from now or 10 years. Life changes a lot of things.
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If I have one piece of advice for you. Don't let anyone get away without saying goodbye. Closure is the best thing.
So hug tight and let no words left unsaid. Because every chapter within our lives should have a complete ending.
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