Being a senior in college makes me miss kindergarten. But, now that I’m a senior, I should know absolutely everything about college and life, right? Well, maybe.

1.College is this weird time where you are both living your best life and waiting for your life to begin. Some days I feel like I have learned absolutely nothing about being an adult and other days I feel like this wise old owl flying around campus and dropping helpful advice on every passerby.

2. Everybody wants to tell you what to do; they all think they knows what’s best. And while they may very well have some good advice that you should keep in mind, the only person who can truly make decisions about your life is you. It’s pretty ridiculous that we are expected to know exactly what we want to do by the time we are 18 years old. Here I am, 3.5 years later and I have no clue what I want to be when I grow up. You don’t have to do what people tell you and you don’t need to be what they want you to be. I know that everyone has suggestions and that those suggestions are sometimes helpful, but you don’t HAVE to listen to them.

3.You don’t have to attend the same grad school as your professor or go to the one only an hour away from your best friend. Heck, you don’t have to go to grad school at all! You don’t have to live close to your parents just because they “think that would be nice!”. You don’t have to pick a job that you plan to be in for the rest of your life. You do not have to do anything you don’t want to.

4.Pick something at the last minute! Take this from someone who attempts to plan every second of her life from now until I die…try to be a little spontaneous, whether it is a big deal or a little tiny decision. Try things out to see if you like them. And if you don’t like them, they still helped a lot because now you know something you DON’T want to do. Travel, work a weird job, take a week off of doing anything at all, put your phone down for hours without telling anyone, go to a movie by yourself, etc.

5.If you didn’t get the exact GPA you wanted, it’s fine. If you didn’t lose those pounds you gained freshman year, it’s fine. If you are no longer friends with certain people, it’s fine. If you want to change your hair and wear edgy clothes, it’s fine. Whatever YOU want to do is... guess what... it’s totally fine!

Don’t expect yourself to totally change your mentality after reading this incredibly insightful perspective on life. I mean, I came up with all these life-changing bullet points myself, but I don’t even do all of them. Sometimes, you just need to be reminded that everything will work out, you will be okay and you are usually the one who knows best about your own life. See, I know do everything. Maybe.

Good luck and go live your best lives,

A Struggling Senior

Delaney Ray '19 is a Psychology and Sociology double major with a minor in Criminal Justice. She works as a Student Orientation Leader and a Library Desk Assistant in addition to blogging for MU. She never thought she would be a blogger, and her dream job is to work for the FBI in the behavioral unit.