Summer has always meant the same thing for me: freedom from school work, working minimal hours to fund my free time, and getting super sunburnt. This year, only one of those things is true. As I enter my senior and final semester at ISU, I find myself signed up for nine summer school hours, a full-time internship, moving to a new city, and having to take responsibility during a time that was usually reserved for fun. But I will most likely still get sunburnt at some point.

I won’t lie and say it was an easy transition. I’m currently located a thousand miles away in a city that I am foreign to and am working hard to perform well at my internship. Even before I embarked on this journey, my family was struck with tragedy. My grandfather passed away the week after I came home from finals, and everything leading up to that week and afterwardis a fog. All of a sudden, summer school, my internship, and moving didn’t seem like such a big deal. Most of the time, I didn’t even think about it. But, I persevered and while I was devastated, I knew he would not want me to wallow in sadness and not succeed.

It seems like every big hurdle in life makes past or future concerns or problems disappear. I remember a time when I would be so worried that the bus would be late and I would be late to school, or perhaps one tiny mistake would ruin my entire day. While this was a long time ago, I still find myself worrying about small things that I shouldn’t even be concerned about.

Death is not an easy thing to deal with. There’s not a day that goes by that I do not think about the happy memories I have of my grandfather. But, it happened in a stressful, transition point in my life, and it made me realize just how mortal we all are and how we need to make the most of every day, and not sweat the small stuff. You cannot plan everything out as much as you try because there is always a risk of something coming up that can change everything. 

I’m positive I’m not the only college student that has ever felt this way at one point or another. It’s not a good feeling to realize just how much things can change in a matter of days. At the same time though, one must remember to take things in stride and roll with the punches, so to speak.

That being said, I do not regret anything that I decided on for this summer. While online summer school classes can be challenging and a new position in a new job in a new city is daunting, I know I am doing my best to just be myself and learn as much as I can to prepare me for a future position. I think this can be true for anyone: As long as you’re trying your best, there’s no way you can fail. As for my grandfather, he lived a long, exciting life filled with countless memories of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. There’s so much to be thankful for and I can’t ask any more than that.

Never in a million years would I have thought making the leap into a career field, wrapping up school work in preparation for graduation in December, and starting to build a life in a new city would be my main focus now. It’s strange how everything falls into place so quickly and you suddenly find yourself being taken seriously as an adult in a professional environment. My advice for my peers in college is to roll with the changes and find what you really have a passion for. It may take a few tries to get it right, but once you do, you will find yourself in a good place.