You’ve heard it too many times before. Practicing gratitude is one of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your life. But your in college, the best four years OF your life, and probably already aware that it’s not going to get any better than this.
In fact, you’re right. To help bring this to your attention, we’ve compiled the seven things you’ll miss most about college after you graduate, so you can stop taking them for granted now and start spending even more time engaging in these extra-curriculars.
You can thank us post-graduation when you realize we’re not making this up.
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Your meal plan. Eating is one of the highlights of college. The Jimmy John sample distributors handing out sandwiches across campus, the drunken Pita Pit combos that result in gross yet delicious creations, late night pizza deliveries while studying and procrastinating. And at the pinnacle of the food pyramid, the meal plan. The ability to swipe a card and get almost anything you want to eat at any time, at a way too progressive variety of campus dining options... It’s all too convenient and it feels free. Know that when you become an adult after graduation, you likely won’t eat the same. You’ll have to forage for food, visiting supermarkets, planning meals, paying for overpriced workweek lunches and dealing with zero dining options that are both open late night and deliver. These are the days to eat a lot, eat at all hours, and eat often, seemingly for free, while you can.
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The campus rec center. After college, you’re going to have to pay to use those ellipticals, and they likely won’t come with the built-in tech gadgets like TVs and surround sound hookups that your college gym can offer because you’ve paid an exorbitant amount to attend and because donors have funnelled so much cash into the school. Those climbing walls and multiple racquetball courts are going to be far harder to find after graduation, and they won’t be cheap. Get in shape while you have the resources and time now, take that tango class, and get around to finally trying out that damn rock wall that’s been whispering adventure to you.
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Manicured lawns and gorgeous landscaping. Your college employs more people than you can imagine to keep it looking picture-postcard perfect. It helps recruitment and enhances the schools image, but it also makes you feel like your living in paradise. Don’t take the botanical garden in your backyard for granted.
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Free counseling. Hear us out on this one. You don’t have to suffer from severe mental disorders to benefit from seeing a therapist. They can be hugely beneficial for even the little things, like dealing with finals stress and the graduation what-am-I-going-to-do-now crises. You've got counselors on campus who are fiddling their thumbs waiting for you to schedule an appointment. Visit them and lighten the load a little while they’re free and included in the health fees you probably didn’t realize you were paying.
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Your 4-day workweek. Tim Ferris had to write a book about this, which became hugely popular, because studying or working for less than five days a week is not the norm for most of us. Weekends will never include that additional day we call thirsty Thursday, nor the option to plan your schedule so your whole Monday morning if not the entire day is free to recoup from the weekend. Enjoy your typical four day weekends before life revolves around the 40-50 hours you’ll spend working in a week.
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Your epic social life. Having too many parties to choose from on any given Friday, a Saturday with enough intramural goings-on than you can remember, and Sundays floating the river with pals and a cooler are typical these days. Come post-graduation, you’ll want to spend the weekend curled up on your couch bingeing on Netflix and not speaking to a soul because the daily grind has created an introverted grandpa out of you. You’ll still party, but it’ll come in smaller happy-hour doses with the fear of indulging too much it leaves you too hungover to work the next day. Team-building exercises like keg stands, flip cup and front lawn water slides are created for college only, so get it all in now.
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Having every opportunity at your fingertips. Maybe most importantly, realizing that you are at a point in your life where everything is possible -- all of the resources you could ever need to accomplish your dreams are within an arm’s reach on a college campus -- is key. After graduation, responsibilities and commitments stifle much of the possibilities you used to imagine yourself going after. Your motivations and ambitions are at a hugely influential and peak point where you can jump at anything and reach it with more ease now. Get busy now.
