There are moments in my life I can recall vividly years later as a result of a mental snapshot I took at the time. Submitting my college applications is one of them. It was 1989, and I had to stand in line at the post office to mail my thick envelopes in the hopes of getting some even thicker envelopes in return (a thick envelope from a college in your mailbox was—and at many schools, still is—the universal sign of an acceptance). I remember exiting the post office in my hometown of San Rafael, California and saying to myself, “OK. Let’s see what happens.”
I don’t remember feeling any anxiety in that moment—just curiosity about what would happen next. Where would I get in? Where would I choose to go? How much different would my life be just one year later when I would officially be a freshman at a college to-be-determined? And what would my life be like after that? My college and post-college lives were in front of me, and the uncertainty about the specifics was exhilarating.
Seniors, you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next. You don’t know which schools will say yes or where you’ll end up in college next fall. That uncertainty is part of the process, and worrying won’t get you any closer to clarity. So why not enjoy it?
Some uncertainty about your future is one of the benefits of youth. You have your whole life in front of you and plenty of time to figure out what it should look like. And while I do believe that life continues to improve with age, uncertainty at seventeen is a lot easier to enjoy than it will be later in life when you have adult responsibilities.
The adventure you’re about to embark on won’t repeat itself. So take a deep breath, enjoy the ride, and let’s see what happens.