My academic journey was not exactly a traditional one. I was homeschooled until my junior year of high school. I absolutely longed for information, responsibility and experience, so I did a program called running start that enabled me to graduate from junior college and high school at the same time.
I studied music in junior college and then I moved to Oklahoma all the way from Washington and now I am graduating Oklahoma Christian University with a degree in Journalism.
I have always loved the learning, independence, deadlines and most everything that comes with being a student. I love classes and I love professors – these walking dictionaries of my specific interests.
But now I am a graduating senior and this is getting real.
Within the first week of the semester I had to do all the assigned reading and homework for my classes, plan and purchase the major aspects of my wedding, deal with the Mailroom – sending all my packages and my textbook back to China, look at jobs in the Oklahoma area for next semester, give piano lessons, work my part-time campus job, edit articles and try to make some room for a social life.
On top of school, work and wedding planning, finding a job is just the cherry on top.
So here it is. The so-called real world is hitting me in the gut. Pretty soon my life will look less like girls night out on the weekends and more like a New Years Eve party with 30-year-olds discussing taxes.
Even if you are a freshman, this reality is not too far away. You too will acknowledge that freshmen year was the best year of your life; you will also discover that you had a blindfold on the entire time.
You won’t end up dating who you thought you would. You won’t hang out with who you did freshmen year. Your friends will graduate and move on. You’ll find out that Kudos don’t exist in the real world, so you actually have to do spiritual things on your own accord.
So if you’re like me and you have been trying to grow up all your life … continue doing so. It isn’t a sin to grow up, but amidst the busy schedule, realize where you are in life. Pause a moment right now and look up. Realize who and what is around you. Realize that you will never experience this moment again – or this moment.
Time is unwieldy. We can’t bend it to our will, that’s not our job. Our job is to live in every moment instead of being brain-dead zombies, conforming to society’s standards, never exercising our creativity and just doing things to get by.
Life goes by in a blur and it is not enough to “get by well.” Have fun on assignments. Read your history books. Explore yourself and your beliefs. Ask a million questions and when someone gets annoyed with that, ask more. There is no sense in life if we are unable to question our motives, our existence and even our faith.
That is what college is all about, and I think it was well worth the trip.
Sarah Redding is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University and the copy editor for The Talon.
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