My father’s father had a saying, “These are the most carefree days of your life.” He was referring to my father’s college days. And my father has been repeating the same saying to me recently. Usually in response to my venting about the stress of due dates and deadlines, to which my response is normally, “Uh huh, sure seems like it.”
But when I sit back and truly think about my life right now compared to what I assume my life will look like in the future, these truly are some carefree days. Now, I know the term “carefree” is not the word most students would use for the last two weeks of the semester. But we should remind ourselves that at the end of these next two weeks, life will go on.
During these next two weeks, the first things we may scratch from our busy schedules may be the things most valuable to our survival, sleep and food. We may live in Starbucks, continually pumping our bodies with caffeine in order to finish a 12-page paper. We may fall asleep with our faces in our textbooks out of utter exhaustion of studying for a cumulative final. We may depend on late night library food as our idea of a three-course meal: a bag of chips for an appetizer, a protein bar as the meal and candy for dessert.
Even though this isn’t the picture of an ideal carefree time of life, there are many things easily overlooked in the midst of the stress of school. For most of us right now, the only person we truly have to look out for is ourselves. And we are not alone in our sleepless endeavors, since college is one of the last places many of our friends will be together in the same place before moving on to graduate schools or future careers. Or the fact that it is okay to make mistakes. We are not perfect and will not always be able to make a perfect score on every paper or every test.
One day we will look back on these moments that currently seem stressful and unfair and remember the friends who stayed with us at the library until 2 a.m. We will remember the Tuesday night study breaks with our roommates to watch a new episode of a favorite TV show. We will remember the friends who celebrated the special moments with us, from football games to birthdays to the end of finals.
So as you go into these last two weeks of the semester, think to yourself, “These are the most carefree days of my life.” Whether you are a freshman, senior or somewhere in between, remember to take time to make the most of these moments in order to make memories.
Hannah Waid is a junior majoring in English. Her column runs biweekly on Tuesdays.
