It is Thanksgiving, and I am a junior now. How things have changed. Maybe it is the pandemic, the series of major world events that have aged me, or the literal two more years of life, but I look back on my first year self as joyful, naive, and curious. How lucky I was to explore to the fullest extent and now, confined to the boundaries of my home, I do wish I would've gone out just a bit more.
I believe that reflection on a year can occur at many stages; right away, after it's over, and after a period of time.
A summer and a semester removed from my freshman year, I admire my upbeat and positive attitude that I maintained throughout the year in comparison to this last semester. They say something along the lines of "you don't know how good you have it until it's gone" and I really feel that after a stressful semester. I look back very fondly on the memories I made my first year, how vibrant it was, how much I learned, how much I became who I am now. I know at that time, it was challenging but everything seems easy once you go through something difficult, and that's exactly what's happening now.
A summer and a semester removed from my freshman year, I admire my upbeat and positive attitude that I maintained throughout the year in comparison to this last semester. They say something along the lines of "you don't know how good you have it until it's gone" and I really feel that after a stressful semester. I look back very fondly on the memories I made my first year, how vibrant it was, how much I learned, how much I became who I am now. I know at that time, it was challenging but everything seems easy once you go through something difficult, and that's exactly what's happening now.