Reflecting On The Last Summer Before Undergrad Graduation

What can I say, it's been a minute since my last post and I do apologize! It is usually not like me to slack on things I find important, but I have been busy, to say the least. It has been a heck of a summer, to say the least. The realization of adulthood is settling in at an uncanny time - senior year is just around the corner and I don't know how to adequately grasp the idea that a year from now I will be in a completely new stage in my life. Possibly in graduate school (hopefully) or working full time in a crime lab, or at least I hope.

As this summer comes to a close, I lay alone in a hotel bed in Little Rock, Arkansas, pondering on the last few nights of my last summer before entering the "real world". It's a bittersweet ending to what I've known practically my entire life. I hadn't given much thought to this dreadful end, maybe because I was too busy trying to avoid the sinking feeling of reality. As we outgrow our old selves, part of us has a hard time letting go of what we have grown accustomed to. The summer before my senior year of college has been quite an exhilarating experience in my mind. I've had time to reflect on what I want to do after undergrad and what direction I want my life to go. My determination for graduate school has not grown weary and I remain firm in applying to a Ph.D. program for the Fall of 2023. I don't know how that will look like or what it will take to get there, but I do know it is going to take a heck of hard work and determination to get there - and for now, that will suffice. Getting a job after undergrad is also a possibility I've considered, and I am not opposed to it in the slightest.

Life is unpredictable and sometimes it throws a couple of curve balls at us, but I believe that is the exciting part of outgrowing younger versions of ourselves. As we look upon the future and what it holds for us, it is important to acknowledge the parts of us we had to outgrow to become the person we are in the present tense. As we become young adults in this ever-evolving society full of uncertainty, it's important to never lose sight of what's important (to you I mean).

As the summer of 2022 comes to a close, I feel a bit closer to who I am yet to become. I will be closing pivotal chapters in my life before entering my last year of undergrad. My friends back home are busy planning their future endeavors, so I've come to realize this may have been the last time I would have had the time to sit down for a chat before life gets too crazy. My close friends in college are also anxious and hopeful about what's in store, so I bear the responsibility to make this last year worthwhile considering this may be the last time we may have the opportunity to do things we've wanted to do before it's too late. Maintaining friendships after undergrad is something I've considered when many of us will be busy trying to navigate new sets of responsibilities and prioritize different aspects of life that many of the times, do not include past relationships.

The summer before senior year of college is intimidating - trust me, you're not alone. For many, the time that comes after summer will involve a lot of internal monologues and unhinged personal rebranding. As the semester and year progress, I only hope to outgrow comfort and hurl into new possibilities, challenges, responsibilities, and goals.

Navigating undergrad has been an adventure that I'm not quite ready to let go of just yet, so I will make the best of it before it all comes to an end in May 2023. You know it's funny, what they said was true, "enjoy your years in college, as they'll come to pass fast" and you know what as much as it pains me to admit it, they were right. The years spent in college were meant to explore the deepest parts of us, explore our likes and dislikes, and prioritize independence.

As I start my last Fall semester at OBU, I look around and ponder on the person I was, am becoming, and will be.

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As I complete my first week of my last year at undergrad, can I just say, it's a little overwhelming! With my involvement on campus, courses, work, internship, applications for graduate school and social life, it has been quite a task to balance all of it. Do I know how I'm going to do it? No. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. Can it be done? Yes.

Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.

Theodore Roosevelt

I look forward to publishing more blogs as I near the end of my undergraduate years. The journey has been long, but the Lord has remained faithful through it all.