For many of us seniors (or fourth-years as some would like to call us), there seems to be an irresistible pull right now to sit back and wax nostalgic. Is it annoying to everyone else? More than likely the answer is yes, but this is the time of year when we can get away with it.
However, I’m going to try not to focus my piece too much about that today because I don’t want to alienate a good 75 percent (or more) of my readers. Instead, I’m going to focus my article on a concept that’s so simple we often overlook it at the university level: having fun.
Yes, you heard it here first: Let go. Relax. Have a good time.
Now, I don’t necessarily mean you should go out partying or trash someone’s apartment. I mean you should go and spend a little time doing something different. Check out a museum. Head downtown for a little while. Eat at a new restaurant.
It’s so easy to get caught up in a do-the-exact-same-thing routine that we often forget how to mix it up. It doesn’t even have to be anything that major.
Take me, for example. I’m a gamer (gee, big surprise), but generally I’m into platform gaming or Final Fantasy. One time, I decided to mix it up a little bit and go into a few Halo matches with my friends. It turned out to be one of my favorite experiences of the past four years. Really, our favorite experiences tend to come from unknown places like this.
If there is one other thing I would encourage anyone else to do (doesn’t matter if they’re graduating or not), I would say they should take any sort of crazy chance that’s handed to them.
A year and a half ago, I was walking along campus when some random people came up to me and asked where the engineering building was. I told them and quickly found out that they were from a T.V. show looking for some geeks. After getting over the five-second reaction of “What are you trying to say?” I decided to jump on the opportunity to try out. Thanks to that I made some great friends, published a book and later on had the opportunity to meet the girl who is now my fiancé. One thing just shot off to another.
This advice might not work for you, which is fine, because I really don’t think Person A can tell Person B the best way to live. All I’d like to say is that you should live. End of story.
Being at SMU has given me the chance to learn a ton and a good bit of this has come outside of lecture halls, tests and essay writing.
Matt Carter is a senior creative writing, journalism, and Asian studies triple major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
