You don’t realize how fast life goes until you start to experiencing “last” moments. Your last time gazing the colorful flowers on your way to class, your last unforgettable night out with your best friends, your last time working on that homework assignment that was assigned months ago, but you decided to put it off until the day of. During these moments in your college career, you truly don’t enjoy them until you know the end is near. To my fellow soon-to-be college grads,  this new transition will truly be bitter sweet. As we all reflect back on our last four years of college, there are many life lessons we have learned. We all handled it differently from others, but we essentially went through similar moments.  To the younger ones– take this advice from a soon-to-be college grad that wishes she could enjoy those small moments for just a bit longer.

1. Do something out of your comfort zone. Whether that be starting a conversation or going sky diving– heck, why not do both? You will never truly grow as an individual if you are not doing something out of your comfort zone. “Nothing good happens inside your comfort zone.”

2. Get involved. Join a campus organization you care about. Volunteer within your community. Give back. By doing this, you will be able to find people that share similar values as yourself. By getting involved, you will feel like you belong somewhere.

3. Don’t take life so seriously. No one gets out alive anyway. This is by far the biggest advice you should take out of this list. You cannot be so serious all the time. Learn to laugh at yourself–don’t be embarrassed so easily. You will learn to love life more if you find yourself laughing often.

4. Have fun, but make sure you pass. Remember why you are in college in the first place, but also let lose and go experience that college party! You would be surprised how crazy your Tour Guide really is.

5. Find that stress reliever. You will find yourself stress more often than you are use to (especially whenever it comes to finding a job after graduation). Take a walk outside, eat some cheesecake, play with your dog. If you don’t  find a stress reliever that works for you, good luck in your next four years of college.

6. Find your confidant(s). Whenever you are stressed, you need to have that go-to person that will always listen to you.  Do not let your stress bundle inside of you. Typically going on rants for a few minutes or even hours with your best friend can make you feel like so much weight was lifted off your shoulders. Find your people. And stick with your people.

7. Let your heart flutter, but let it break (even when it hurts). You will meet so many different people during your college career. This doesn’t just pertain to finding a significant other, this also applies to friends. Unfortunately like high school, you will have friends come and go. One day this person can be your entire world, and the next they can betray you in ways you never knew existed. Although it will hurt, you need to experience bad people in your life in order to find better people to stay in your life. These bad people will show you what you don’t need in your life. Unfortunately there is no easy to figure out who the bad people are in your life.

8. Listen to yourself. I can’t begin to even explain how much I depended on others to make decisions for me. At the end of the day, you are with yourself the most and you know what makes you happy. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. No one can ever tell you how to feel–only you can tell yourself that.

Enjoy every minute you have left in college. Although you will have to graduate at some point so don’t plan on staying there forever. Once those four years in college come around, you will find yourself ready to take on a big kid job and be more responsible for yourself. “Honor the space between no longer and not yet.”