It’s your last semester of your senior year, and everyone keeps reminding you about it. There is just constant talk of graduation everywhere you go, and all you do is smile and tell everyone that you’re really excited about it.

Let’s be honest. You’re a liar, and you’re scared shitless.

In the beginning of my senior year, you couldn’t shut me up about graduation. I was so ready to finally leave Mercy and start my life outside of college. I spent all my time applying to graduate schools and dreaming about getting a great, editorial job as soon as I graduated.

Reality slapped the naïveté out of me once my final semester approached.

For 4 straight years, Mercy College has been our security blanket from the real world. We’ve built our lives around this place. A lot of us who have dormed here have been calling this place home since were freshmen. There are memories and friends here that a lot of us don’t want to leave behind.

It’s scary, and I’m not going to hide the fact that I’m not scared about all of these changes. I’m terrified. I don’t like the idea of moving back in with my parents and I hate the fact that I have to leave a place that I have grown to love. I honestly didn’t think how attached I was to this place until I started thinking about all the things that I’m going to miss once I leave here.

I know a lot of you are in the same place as I am. You’re freaking out about what you’re going to do once you leave this place and you’re constantly making plans and back up plans, and back up plans for your back up plans if things don’t go your way.

Stop.

This is your senior year and you need to take a moment to enjoy it. Take a break from thinking about your future and start enjoying the final days of being a college senior. Everyone claims that their college years were the best 4 years of their lives, so why waste that on spending every day worrying about your future?

None of us know what’s going to happen after we leave Mercy for good. Maybe you won’t get your dream job right out of college, or you might have to move back in with your parents. These are all common things every senior worries about before they leave college. Take it from a person who is extremely afraid about her future, it’s going to be okay.

All I did last semester was prepare for what I wanted to do after college. I applied to a handful of summer internships, two graduate schools and solely focused on my future after Mercy. I became so stressed out that it’s all I did. I didn’t hang out with my friends a lot and never really got a chance to unwind and enjoy my senior year. It’s something that I really regret.

I know I’m not going to get the best job right out of college. It’s going to suck to have to move back in with my parents and waiting on admissions to decide if I’m good enough to attend their graduate program is a thought that haunts me every hour of every day. I can’t let this ruin my final semester here.

And you can’t either.

If you’re feeling as overwhelmed as I am, breathe. Make a bucket list of things you want to do before you leave here and accomplish them all with your friends by your side. Try new things. Do something you’d never thought you’d do. As of right now, there are only 115 days left to enjoy senior year before graduation. Stop freaking out and start having some fun.

A great man once said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” (yes, I’m aware I just quoted Ferris Bueller). But, Ferris was absolutely right. The future is scary, but you can’t let thinking about your future affect your present. If you do, you’ll miss out on all the fun things you could be doing your senior year.

To the underclassmen, I envy you. Enjoy every second that you’re here. As for us seniors, we’re going to make this semester the best one yet.