Graduation Goggles

Do any of you watch How I Met Your Mother? If you don't, you totally should. We even got Paul into it.

If you do, you may have seen the episode where Robin talks about "Graduation Goggles". Remember that feeling you may (or may not) have had when you were about to graduate from high school? You know, the feeling that you couldn't believe it was over and that you hadn't spent enough time with your classmates and that you were sad that you may never see some of them again even though they bullied you last week or until today you didn't even know who they were? Those are the graduation goggles.



I got 'em and I got 'em bad.

End of summer? I'm so sad because I can't believe it's almost over even though I spent most of it complaining that it was too hot. End of a class for the semester? I'm so sad because I might not take another class in that classroom again even though I hated the 2 hour commute to get there. 

In less than a month, I will turn 30 and I can't help but think to myself, "I am so sad because my 20s are ending! My 20s were amazing! I should have done more! I should have lost weight! I should have traveled more!" And my 20s were great. I had so many adventures and I laughed a lot.

Pic of 21 year old me in my first apartment in New York taken on my first camera phone!

But at the same time, I am also trying to remind myself that I struggled at times during my 20s. When I was 20 I did stupid, immature things. I stressed my parents out. In my 20's, I struggled with who I was and who I wanted to be. At 21, I moved to New York City all by myself. It was the best decision I ever made, but there were times when I was so lonely.

Knowing that you have graduation goggles or that you tend to get sad when something is coming to an end, even if it's something you think you'd rather leave behind, is one way that I try to enjoy the moments that I am currently experiencing.

I hope that with age comes more wisdom, more self awareness, and more comfort with who I am. I hope I remember to take advantage of every moment of my 30s. I hope that when I'm turning 40, I can say to myself, "Wow, my 30s were pretty amazing and that's not even the graduation goggles talking."