{"id":387,"date":"2013-05-22T22:25:59","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T22:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/?p=387"},"modified":"2013-05-22T22:26:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T22:26:32","slug":"thoughts-for-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/2013\/05\/22\/thoughts-for-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts for Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kendra\"<\/a>By Kendra Kintz<\/p>\n

Yesterday I was walking home from campus and accidentally dropped my cellphone on the sidewalk. It is a Galaxy S from T-Mobile; S as in S1, as in the first model that came out two years ago and is a lovely piece of junk. Usually when I drop the phone it continues to function and just gets a new scratch that adds some character to its appearance\u2026 which is what I thought happened during yesterday\u2019s mishap. The reality, which I just discovered, is that The Big Drop actually resulted in my entire photo gallery being completely erased. At first I was bummed, realizing that I had some great memories documented in those photos (which were never backed up to my computer because sometimes I make poor decisions with technology), but then I realized\u2026 maybe there is some symbolism here; maybe I can learn from this.<\/p>\n

Maybe this was a fluke accident and the symbolism is entirely artificial, or maybe there is a lesson here about not relying on technology and experiencing life without capturing every moment via technological resources, but I\u2019m going to bypass those thoughts and instead just focus on the idea that having those pictures erased was a sign that it is time for me to reflect on how great the past four years have been as I slowly let go of college and begin to embrace the next chapter of my life.<\/p>\n

Many of us graduating seniors will be going off in all different directions as we finish our undergraduate careers; some of you will be tackling graduate school, a new career, an internship, or maybe you will be boarding a plane for international travel (my personal favorite). As we move forward with these new beginnings, I encourage you to give yourself credit for\"time\"<\/a> what you have just completed. We must be aware of our successes as we begin to engage in the next phases of our lives, and not let anxiety or fear of the unknown overshadow our accomplishments! \u00a0Too often I see people so overwhelmed by the stress of the transition that they forget to enjoy the present. As college graduates, we have a huge, fantastic achievement to celebrate! We are conditioned to always be thinking about the future and having something to work towards<\/i>, but I want to remind you about that lovely clich\u00e9d quote \u201cToday is a gift, that\u2019s why we call it the present.\u201d Remember that everything you have experienced has contributed to the creation of the person you are today, at this moment. You will continue to face adversity, have your plans change, grow apart from friends and have new encounters that drastically change the course of your life\u2026 but it is okay to stop, breathe, and think about how wonderful life has been so far. The past four years have not just been about school \u2013 life was happening. And if you are anything like me, you probably had a pretty fantastic time making mistakes, embracing new experiences, learning a ton about subjects you didn\u2019t even know existed, studying to an extent and also accepting that some nights you just have to stay out late and have some nonacademic fun. Guess what? Those experiences are not limited to college; that is life<\/i>, and it will continue to unfold in different variations and flavors as we move on from this specific environment.<\/p>\n

These are reminders for myself as much as anyone else, but a recurring message I have been piecing together these past few years is to figure out whatever makes you happy and do that \u2013 whether it is how you make a living, how you entertain yourself outside of a job, what you do on weekends \u2013 whatever it is that gets you excited about life. Stress can be very powerful but it doesn\u2019t deserve to blind us from our choice to appreciate our lives and make decisions that are beneficial to us. Life is meant to be enjoyed; sure, there are plenty of ups and downs that are out of our control, but we do have some say in our attitude and how we react to those circumstances.<\/p>\n

Final words here from one graduate to another: embrace the change and be excited. Ride the nostalgia wave, go to happy hour at Bombs Away one last time, go look at the MU when it is all lit up at night because it is gorgeous and you can. Soak up these last few weeks of Corvallis so when it is time to say goodbye, \u201cyou won\u2019t cry because it\u2019s over, you will smile because it happened\u201d (yes that is quote about relationships, but it makes sense in this context too, am I right?!).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if I succeeded at making this a minimally clich\u00e9d farewell blog post as I end my career as a Liberal Arts Ambassador, but all I am trying to convey is that life is incredible and change can be great. Sometimes it\u2019s scary, sometimes it\u2019s really tough, and sometimes it makes you feel invincible \u2013 all of which is completely acceptable. But as you are working your way through the emotions that come with a huge life transition\u2026 revel in the excitement that comes with being able to customize your life and create a reality you love!<\/p>\n

Congrats to you all! J<\/p>\n

\"curiosity\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kendra Kintz Yesterday I was walking home from campus and accidentally dropped my cellphone on the sidewalk. It is a Galaxy S from T-Mobile; S as in S1, as in the first model that came out two years ago and is a lovely piece of junk. Usually when I drop the phone it continues… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3085,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3085"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions\/391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/liberalarts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}