These last few weeks have certainly been a whirlwind of emotions. From the first whist of cold autumn air, to all the Back to School! promotional e-newsletters I’ve been getting, that September feeling of the summer ending and students returning to school is unavoidable.
With being a new grad and someone who isn’t pursuing any more schooling in the near future, this September has been incredibly bittersweet. Seeing my friends pack up their things to move back into school and talking to my sister about what classes she’s taking this semester has got me truly missing the excitement that a new school year brings. Even simply the lack of going ‘back to school’ shopping (aka, using an excuse to buy new clothes) has made me feel all weird about not being labelled as a ‘student’ anymore. I think back to my time at Western, and those 4 years of the annual conversation I would have with my mom about what to pack and what we need to buy to prep for our move in to London. Although packing up your life temporarily is a tiring and time consuming, I would do it again if it meant that I could move back into my cozy student house with my roommates and be reunited with all the other returning students in our little university bubble. As one of my friends said to me, “the FOMO of not going back to school is real.”
On the other hand, continuing to work a full-time job after Labour Day feels completely foreign as well. It eerily feels like the summer is still continuing and I’m just going to my summer internship every day…except that it’s starting to get colder and my deadlines are extending into the fall months. It’s refreshing to be working and not have to worry about studying for tests, working with strangers for a group project, or planning my next extra-curricular event. It feels great to feel like a ‘real adult’ and worry about performing well at my job and managing my schedule to fit in appointments, time to socialize with friends and time for myself. But it is a bit scary that this is what the rest of my life will probably look like…is this what being an adult with a full-time ‘traditional’ job is like?
I think what I miss the most about going back to school is that feeling of starting over. With a whole new class schedule and the physical moving in to a different space, it clearly spells out ‘new start.’ After graduating, there isn’t ever really another time that we get that explicit message of starting over. But the ending of summer and the beginning of fall can bring a new start regardless. I stand by the mantra of ‘Why wait until the new year or a time construct created by society to tell us when to have a new start?’ Starting over can happen anytime you’re ready for it. It can be in the next minute, the next day or the next month. I can see how this ‘adult’ life can become complacent, with a similar schedule every day, it’s easy to slip into going through the motions mindlessly without thinking of setting new goals or working towards something else. With that, I’m hoping to use this whole season of ‘back to school’ as a way to start over and jump back into doing the things that I love.
