A Twinge of Regret

As life spirals around me in this sort of tornado type feeling, I find myself looking back over the past year. It's been a year since I graduated from college. Almost immediately after that momentous day, I was at Staples being rehired. Two days after being reintegrated into the system, I was working.

My sister just graduated from college a few weeks ago. She's currently out at Millbrook - a theater near Lehigh University - for the summer working as an actress and a set builder. After that, she'll be hopping onto a plane and living in Ireland for at least a year as she gets her masters in theater. Though we aren't very similar in our personalities, we seem to do the same sort of things with our lives. It seems as though we march on forward and wind up tumbling down hills into situations we originally didn't anticipate being in.

About a week ago, the two of us were chatting. I think I was sitting in the middle of her floor as she packed for Millbrook. At one point I said to her, "Y'know something I've found I regret? Not taking time off between graduating and working."

"Yeah, but you've got money now. That's a good thing."

Sure, I've got a buffer of funds for the "just in case something explodes" incidences. And that is nice. I really can't deny that I feel a lot more secure knowing that I have some buffer room financially. I could potentially lose my job and not have the world crash around me. This is definitely a good thing.

But at the same time, I feel like I jipped myself a little.

I think about all the traveling I would like to do. All the places I want to go. Y'know something I'd love to do? Take a cross-country roadtrip with a friend. Just travel and see and do for a while. Like two months or something. For a brief time, abandon what I know and adventure. Y'know something else I'd love to do? Get on a plane again and go somewhere. Y'know something else I'd love to do? Spend a week at a friend's house and see all those places they've always told me about. Stay up till three in the morning talking about random things that have no point.

So really, I wish I had given myself time to travel.

This may just be me, but I think that college kids should take a month off after they graduate. Granted, that's assuming they have a job they can walk into. I was lucky enough to have kept a good reputation at my old workplace and was even more fortunate to have a job practically waiting for me when I walked in the door. Not everyone has such opportunities. But I think that there's something to be said for relaxing and destressing. I'm not saying I necessarily needed to destress. I did have the easiest last semester of college ever.

But I also know a lot of friends that were on the verge of mental breakdowns at the end of their college career. There's something to be said for mental health. And I don't know if we stress enough how important it is to relax your brain for a time. And not just by sitting in front of the TV. But by doing something you've always wanted to do.

Like I said, maybe that's just me.

Adventure well warriors! Take today and do something you've always wanted to do. Be a little spontaneous. There's nothing wrong with making life an epic journey one small story at a time.

Currently Editing: Unity

Currently Reading: Brisinger by Christopher Paolini

Currently Listening to: "Into the West" by Annie Lenox