Tiana Torkan

Guest Writer

As second semester seniors, much of our thought processes revolve around the concept of time. I mean, at this point in our lives, who could blame us?

As second semester seniors, we have all reached the final stage of the — dare I say it — college application process, and the tedious process of writing variations of the same essay is thankfully over. However, almost all of us have found the waiting period to be just as dreadful. By April 1st, we will receive an answer from every college we have applied to letting us know if we have been (worst-case) denied, (best-case) accepted, or (ugh-case) waitlisted. These college decisions are not just pieces of paper stating whether or not we’ve been admitted to a university; they represent where we might potentially spend the next four years of our lives, who we might be surrounded by in that period of time, what we will spend extensive hours studying, etc., etc. At some point within the next year, our lives will completely deviate from what we’ve forever been accustomed to, and given that this change is so incredibly pivotal, it would be nice to know in what direction we will diverge. Yes… April 1st doesn’t seem to be that far away. But as we continue to approach the date, each day seems to be growing longer than the one before.

As second semester seniors, we also have numbered days— 14 days to be exact. Fourteen days until our time of sunbathing in the amphitheater, listening to music and playing some variation of volleyball will come to an end. Fourteen days until we will be thrown into a foreign environment with a completely different population, until our high school career is entirely over. Like I said before, at some point this year, our lives are going to completely change. So as I look at my calendar, counting down the days until April 1st’s approach and realize that it’s nearly the same amount of time us seniors at Milken have until we leave, I begin to hate myself for not using what little time I have left to truly appreciate where I am. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to look back at my last semester of high school and regret having wasted so much time idly dwelling on my future, even if it is going to change so drastically. I’d rather reflect on the late night adventures I went on with friends, spontaneous day trips to the beach, new friendships I formed, or old ones I rekindled. I want to look back at my last semester of high school and think of the moments my friends and I spent messing around on campus, or the times I dragged all of them to come with me to Bigg Chill. I want to remember the endless laughs we shared, the feelings of immense gratitude I held towards both friends and faculty, and frankly anything but the times I chose to stress out over something that’s out of my control.

Waiting for these letters may be annoying and frustrating and tiresome and maddening, but there will be time for us to think about our futures later. Right now is not that time, and in our last few weeks of high school, I encourage you to indulge in the now rather than being consumed by the uncertainty of our futures.