I don’t remember much from this weekend. I remember going out with my friends and my boyfriend. I remember getting ready and blasting music that bounced off my dorm walls and echoed through the hallways. I remember taking pictures. I remember the good memories, but also accidentally rolling my ankle going down the stairs. And one thing is for sure, I remember who helped me when I needed it but that’s another story for another time.

When being told to imagine what my next year would be like, it’s hard for me to even picture it. I tend to just live in the moment and not think about it. Or at least that’s what I like to tell myself. I do know what I want to do when I get out of school. I also know what I’d like to be doing 10 years from now but next year is just too close to tell. There are some concrete details such as attending school as a sophomore, living off campus with some of my best friends, and working over the summer. I know I’m going to want the friends around me who held my hair back when I needed it and checked up on me when they didn’t have to. Those things are set in stone and I know won’t change. However, I try not to think about what goes in between those details because I tend to be a spontaneous person.

I could sit here and tell you about how I know I’ll probably party a lot next year and over the summer or how I’m most likely going to continue lifeguarding at my local pool club but that’s boring. I’ll tell you about where I want to be this time next year, the person I want to become, and the people I want to surround myself with. I also don’t want to jinx it, though, so I won’t give you all the details.

By this time next year, I want to be a better person. I want to go out of my way to make someone else’s day. This isn’t to say I don’t try to do this now but I want to be doing it more often. I know I want to spend more time with my friends and take day trips on the weekend instead of lounging in pjs on Sundays. I want to take more pictures, make more memories. Just in case anyone was wondering, I just got into using disposable cameras to make memories and it’s the best decision I’ve made since being here. I highly reccomend buying some and bringing them around with you wherever you go.

I want to look back in 2 years and say damn last year was a crazy time. Next year, I should be more independent and responsible. It’s easy to get wrapped up in this bubble of being a freshman living in a dorm and thinking you’re invincible when you’re not. Personally, I want to eat better and workout more. Hopefully it does actually happen when I live off campus because now it’s so easy for me to just walk over to the P.O.D. at 1 am and get a sub from Subway.

I want to stop procrastinating…but I realistically know that part of me is never going to change. Overall, I want to continue being friends with most of the people I’m friends with now. I know I’m cutting the toxic ones out, though. I usually tend to be a positive person and it really affects me when I’m around people who constantly bring down the mood or cause problems. For sure, I want to stay with my boyfriend from back home even though he’s transferring to Rutgers and we’ll be far from each other. I want it to work out between us so hopefully it does.

There’s a lot more nitty gritty details that I’ve kept to myself but I think I deserve to keep them in my head. Some things are just meant for yourself and sometimes little goals are more satisfying when you yourself push to get it done. We’re all still changing and being molded into the people we are going to be, so allow yourself to be molded. Since coming to this school, I’ve allowed myself to just let things happen to see how it plays out and most of the time it’s been beneficial to me. I urge you to grind it out next year, work your hardest, but don’t forget you’re still a young adult trying to figure out how adulting works. Let yourself make some mistakes and learn from them. This is our trial run until the real world. Be spontaneous, take some risks, and make some memories. Trust me, you’re going to want to look back and smile at all the good times you had one year from now.