Really, I'm a terrible fool. I've gone through a season and really forgotten about it all. I've forgotten about what matters and who really matters.
You see, when you make an (over) generalization of the whole "college" thing, it's a big load of shit. You come into this place, and they tell you that you need to pick one career to focus on for the rest of your life, and you're supposed to think about how much money you're going to make, and how successful you'll be with X major and Y minor will get you a better job. And you have to be someone's bitch at an awful summer job that you HATE because if you don't, you won't be successful. And if you're not successful and don't make a crap load of money, you won't be happy. You'll have WASTED time and money and for what?!
And speaking of "wasting time", what about the whole 4 year deal anyway? How much bull shit are you fed the whole time you're here. The realities of the stereotypes of college students aren't all true, but I know I've settled for a C because I'm lazy...or a D... We all complain about how much we hate school here and there, because papers DO suck and no one likes busy work, and half the time the classes you have to take are a waste of time and we're all graded the exact same way but there's no way I'm like that dude at the end of the row, and I bet we take tests differently and maybe I bombed it but I actually learned SO much in that class but now I have a C on my transcript because I don't do matching sections very well.
So I'm not REALLY happy in college, because I don't like people telling me that I'm stupid and I don't like feeling pressured to stick with a job I'm going to hate. But they say you'll probably hate your first job too, because you're not doing to get your DREAM job right away.
Well when the hell do I actually get to be happy? In 30 years when I'm rich..orr what?
Nobody in college tells you that all of that is total crap. You're NEVER going to be happy BECAUSE you have a 6-figure job. Having a vacation home isn't what is going to bring you joy.
Take a second to think about some of your BEST memories. Think of the times in your life you were the happiest. I can't imagine ANY of them are tied to a thing. It's probably something like that camping trip to CO my family used to all take together. Or the time freshmen year when my roommates all hung out on 2 couches smushed together when they canceled school. Or last week when I was dancing in the car to kidz bop pandora with my littles.
We don't love Christmas because of the stuff. We love it because for ONE day of the year, not once are you thinking about yourself. You're spending all day thinking about the look on your mom's face when she opens her present, because you NAILED IT. And when she opens it, she doesn't cry because she loves that item so much, but she can't believe you remembered that conversation you had in April, and she knows that you probably had to sell something to be able to afford that.
I'm not saying we should quit school or all decide to be homeless, I'm just saying they don't teach us this stuff in class. And I don't want to wait until I'm 35, fat, divorced, and miserable before I figure out what actually mattered the whole time. Because I wasn't the one who really mattered, and it definitely wasn't money or the stuff it could buy me. The people in my life matter and if I forget that, they may not still be around when I remember.
