Why is January 1st considered New Year's day when we spend the first 20 to 25 years of our lives basing time off of summer breaks? Think about it. About the time we start to comprehend time and how it works, we head off to school. This means our year starts sometime between the beginning of August and the middle of September, and it ends sometime between the beginning of May and the end of June. I'm about to turn 21 and when I look back on my life, I determine the path of my life by what grade I was in, not what year it was at the point. With this being the case, I have never really become excited for New Year's Eve because it has always meant that it was almost time do go back to school after Christmas break. BUT the start of a new school year is completely different.
The start of a new school year means new classes, new friends, new clothes, nowadays a new living situation, and more importantly new school supplies! Every year when I was little I would get super excited to go to the store and get fresh pencils, markers, notebooks, folders, and tons of other school supplies. The older I got, the less I needed, and the sadder I became. You don't know how exciting it is for an enthusiastic learner to walk through isles of erasers, pencils, paper, calculators, pens, markers, crayons, poster board, and oh so much more. However, as I got older, my money turned from being spent on new pencils and notebooks because I had more than enough from previous years. Instead in started to be spent on new clothes. Exciting. But not near as joyous as the smell of freshly sharpened colored pencils and scented markers to the learner. Then college starts. Oh boy. Bring back the excitement. You get new clothes! You get new school supplies! AND you get items for a whole new bedroom!!!!
Then you get to where I am at in life. I'm a junior in college. What's exciting about that? I've been here a couple years. I know the ropes, but I still have two years to go for my undergraduate degree. So what do I have to keep my motivation up? What keeps me from just giving up and saying it's too hard? Simple answer? I don't give up on anything. Complex answer? I'm involved in so many different things that I don't have time to get bored. This year means practicums--my first opportunity to get into a classroom and actually teach a few times. It means the chance to take fun classes and not just gen-eds--classes like croquet and creative writing. It means another opportunity to act in the university's bi-annual play. It means my first year of being Social Life Director and Student Representative to the Alumni Board--meaning I plan a lot of events. It means I don't have to live in a dorm anymore--instead I get to live in a campus house. There are so many other things I could mention, but you don't want to read about every second of my life.
So any way, I guess my point is to wish you all a Happy New Year! No it's not January 1st, but to me and most of my friends (even quite a few of the adult friends) our year has just begun anew. So rejoice. Enjoy the new things and revel in the old things. Commit to make it a great year. If you have finally grown up and your world doesn't revolve around the school year, think back to when it did and encourage those people who have just celebrated new beginnings.
Well, have a quacky day and go pick up a new package of pencils just for the sake of the good ol' days.
So I'm pretty sure for me unfortunately, though it meant a nice practicum placement, it also has meant getting lost quite frequently. I MISS OKWU.
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