‘Tis the season.’
For Michael Myers, Jason and Carrie that is.
These three classic characters make their appearance on AMC only a few times a year, but it’s always right around the same time: Halloween.
They are the embodiment of horror and fear, invented to terrify you to the point of sickness, but for some reason having the power to keep you coming back for more each year.
They are the cultural monsters that you hate to love.
But college students are faced with some different monsters, ones that are around all year instead of just one month, ones they run screaming from, and frighten them much more than Jason’s mask ever could.
These monsters are things like commitment, deadlines, debt, FOMO (fear of missing out) and many, many more.
This generation has got to stop living in this state of crippling fear over some of these “monsters,” and start tackling them head on. The alternative is to look back and regret all the things you desperately wanted to do, but never did. Personally, I can’t live with that.
Ah commitment, perhaps every college student’s biggest fear. It’s really this simple: do it if you want to, don’t if you don’t. I’ve done the college relationship thing, and to be honest, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I learned a lot, messed up a lot, and still came out of it alive.
Commit to a team, a club, a person, whatever, but only if it’s all or nothing. You can spend your life asking “what if…” or you can spend your life remembering the things you tried and failed at. I’ll let you decide that for yourselves.
It is only normal to worry about debt. All I can say is this: you’re going to have bills for the rest of your life. It’s inevitable. Although it’s hard to grasp in college, money really should not be anyone’s first priority. If you can’t bring yourself to drop a grand on spring break with your friends because you’re worried about your bank account and the inevitable debt coming for you in a year or so, you are making a huge mistake.
Life is about the experience. It’s about telling that person how you feel and getting rejected. It’s about spending too much money and having to take the tail end of some crazy bet to get it back. It’s about sharing it all with the people you care about.
It is absolutely not about over thinking the consequences.
Don’t let the monsters of our every day lives consume you. Stare them in the face, and overcome them. Don’t run.
I can’t imagine anything worse than a life spent not living. Growing old, looking back and realizing this has happened is the only true FOMO I can think of.
Emily Mulcahey is the
Opinion Editor for The Bona Venture. her email is
mulcahek12@bonaventure.edu
