Hey. How are you doing? I hope you aren’t too busy for a little chat. I know it’s your senior year, but it won’t take long. I promise.  So sit down, grab a cup of coffee, and get comfortable.

How’s life? Are your courses treating you okay? I know you’re worried about your marks. They seem to really matter now that you need them in a couple months. Well, I suppose that gap is rapidly closing in on you. Deadlines seem to be coming like trains, all the time while the teachers just pile one test after the other, one unsatisfactory mark after the other. But you’ll be fine. You’ll see. Once you step into a brand new campus and proudly call yourself a freshman at your dream school, you’ll see. It’ll all be worth it – those sleepless nights, the constant cramming, chasing after letters from teachers that scare you – all of it.

Are you applying to the states? Have you finished your early applications? I suppose that’s more unnecessary work for any poor sap willing to take it. But you know, I hear it’s a whole different experience there. I’m sure seeing the world and the smartest people around it can do you wonders.

But you dislike the application? You dislike all the applications? Well I don’t blame you. Just think, over the span of a couple of months, you have tried your hardest to compile yourself as a human being into one tiny application. That application will be seen by no more than twenty people, who maybe each read it for about 5 minutes. And then a judgement is made, one that can affect who you become forever. College is a special time. It’s when we are at our best. And yet a condensed package barely resembling the outermost extremities of your being is all they are basing the decision on.

It isn’t fair. I know.

But hey, everyone else has to go through it too. You are not alone. Your friend is probably just as stressed out. And anyone you know that has already gone through this process is still alive.

No one has it easy. And yet so many are living their lives, finding their own happiness, and forging their own path on this world.

I’m sure you’ll be just fine.

Do your best to be who you are, and somewhere along the way, someone will open a door. You will walk into that door, and wonder why exactly you have been in any other place but there. You’ll see.

Done your coffee? Good. I suppose you must be one your way now, back into that busy life of yours. Drop by again some other time. Everyone needs their relaxation time. It’s good to just sit and chat away for a while. Take your mind off of matters. Just relish in the present – a good cup of coffee, a friend to talk to, and all the time in the world.