Four years of university
absolutely sped by. People told me they would, but I just shrugged my
shoulders and disbelieved them completely. Time moves so slowy - how
could four YEARS possibly go by quickly? Regardless, it is absolutely true that the days drag on and the years fly.
It's painfully hilarious how much things change. With each passing year I have been flabbergasted with just how little I know and how ignorant I truly am. Time has sped up, and I hear that it's only going to get worse.
At 18 years old, I probably wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but I was pretty sure I knew basically everything there was to know. I always had an opinion (ahem - the right opinion!), ignored advice from old people (like ... 30 and up), left the words "I don't know" out of my vernacular, and rolled my eyes like it was going out of style.
I am now officially done everything I can for nursing (finished up my assignments, clinicals and courses, wrote my Canadian Registered Nursing Exam [still awaiting results ...], drafted a resume, have a job lined up for when I get home, and received my degree from Grant MacEwan University). So what exactly does that mean?
In my late teens, and into my twenties, I fell into this dangerous and appalling belief that "real life" (whatever that means) didn't start until I was done school. I said things like "When I start my real life ..." and "After university I get to live a real life, so ..." but that's crazy! And impossibly naïve! Real life is all we get - all we have to live. It's right now, regardless of whether you're in a stable lifestyle or transitioning to something new or different!
My life is in serious transition mode, and probably will be for awhile. There are many changes upcoming - moving, traveling, starting my career, purchasing expensive things like a car, etc. - and they are scary and exciting and overwhelming and magnificent. 18 year old me would be dismayed to hear me admit this, but there's a whole hell of a lot that I don't know about how these things work. I choose to find that invigorating.
Part of me really wishes I was 18 again - for the confidence of knowing everything! But then again ... I think my life right now is pretty awesome. Instead of living unaware of my own ignorance, I would prefer to realize how small and oblivious I am, to appreciate how much I don't know, and to enjoy "real life" in every moment.
It's painfully hilarious how much things change. With each passing year I have been flabbergasted with just how little I know and how ignorant I truly am. Time has sped up, and I hear that it's only going to get worse.
At 18 years old, I probably wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but I was pretty sure I knew basically everything there was to know. I always had an opinion (ahem - the right opinion!), ignored advice from old people (like ... 30 and up), left the words "I don't know" out of my vernacular, and rolled my eyes like it was going out of style.
I am now officially done everything I can for nursing (finished up my assignments, clinicals and courses, wrote my Canadian Registered Nursing Exam [still awaiting results ...], drafted a resume, have a job lined up for when I get home, and received my degree from Grant MacEwan University). So what exactly does that mean?
In my late teens, and into my twenties, I fell into this dangerous and appalling belief that "real life" (whatever that means) didn't start until I was done school. I said things like "When I start my real life ..." and "After university I get to live a real life, so ..." but that's crazy! And impossibly naïve! Real life is all we get - all we have to live. It's right now, regardless of whether you're in a stable lifestyle or transitioning to something new or different!
My life is in serious transition mode, and probably will be for awhile. There are many changes upcoming - moving, traveling, starting my career, purchasing expensive things like a car, etc. - and they are scary and exciting and overwhelming and magnificent. 18 year old me would be dismayed to hear me admit this, but there's a whole hell of a lot that I don't know about how these things work. I choose to find that invigorating.
Part of me really wishes I was 18 again - for the confidence of knowing everything! But then again ... I think my life right now is pretty awesome. Instead of living unaware of my own ignorance, I would prefer to realize how small and oblivious I am, to appreciate how much I don't know, and to enjoy "real life" in every moment.
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