I would like to take just a minute to talk about the last four years of my life. I am just slightly emotional right now so I thought "why not do some reminiscing?". My years at Lipscomb have been some of my best and some of my worst. I will never forget the way I felt hearing the Bell Tower ring on my way to class, the squirrels that think the own the campus, LU Friday kids, sodexho, etc. There are so many people I am thankful for, some I am no longer close to, some I have continued to grow closer to. Regardless of how close my relationships are with these people now, I am so glad they have been a part of my life. Lipscomb has helped me learn some really important lessons. Most of all, I think I have learned about myself. Sure, there are things I regret and there are times I wish I had made different decisions and then maybe things would be different today. But the fact of the matter is, I wouldn't change one minute of the last four years. Without the ups and the downs, I would not have many of the things I have today. I have a peace today that I know only came from the many struggles I faced over the years. I now understand responsibility and what it means to be a student and a hard worker.
My Freshman year I learned about friendship and I learned the importance of having a good time. School is important but so is having good friends. I learned so much from my friends Freshman year and I became heavily involved in many social activities including the spring musical, Delta Omega and Singarama. I had turned into a social butterfly!
As much as I may hate to admit it now the 'socializing' continued into Sophomore year when it should have just stopped at one year. I thought I could continue doing all my busy activities, take harder classes and do well in school. Sophomore year was my 'valley' to use the mountain journey reference. Yes, I had fun and continued to meet a lot of really great people, but I had yet to learn the lesson most people have to eventually learn...responsibility. I was pretty irresponsible. I wanted to be treated like an adult but I was not acting like one. So...by the end of Sophomore year I learned that being an adult did not mean neglecting my studies and being in plays and social clubs, it meant doing my homework and being able to do things I did not necessarily like with the knowledge that I will be a better person because of it.
And so began Junior year. I like to call this my year of sickness. Yes, my first semester of my Junior year, I had the unfortunate pleasure to experience all the misery of mono. During this time my family was moving houses so we were moving into my grandmother's house. I experienced some of the most trying times of my life this year. This was also the year I changed my major to English. This year, I learned how important it is to be happy with the thing you are planning to do the rest of your life. I love to write, I am happiest when I am writing. So this year, I also fell in love with school. I finally got to experience the joy of loving to learn and I actually enjoyed school. So Junior year, I declined physically because of my health but I grew in responsibility as I learned that school isn't all that bad.
Senior year I tried to make a balance between my Freshman and Junior year. I tried to balance social life with the love for learning and the responsibility I learned during Sophomore and Junior years. And what a relief this year was. I had a blast! I continued to love school and love my classes and teachers, but I also tried to work on and fix some old friendships. God has been so good to me this year teaching me that being responsible and being an adult isn't as awful as I thought it was. I am actually starting to think that it is more fun and rewarding this way.
So, this has been a really long post and I promise I am almost done. I am still scared to leave the comfort of college and school. I love learning and if I could stay in college forever just taking some of my favorite English classes, I might. But I also know that college has prepared me for the real world. I am now much more responsible than Freshman year (even though I thought I had it all figured out back then...I was wrong!). So I am excited to see what God has in store for the next phase of my life. Because I know that he has been working on me the past four years.
And this has been college wisdom 101 with Hannah, thank you for reading! Graduation...2 days!!
God Bless!
