A long, entertaining semester is coming to a close. For some students, this is another step on their way up the college ladder, but this is the last step for me.

Like my fellow outgoing seniors, barring a cataclysmic setback on one of my finals, I will get my degree this weekend. Looking back on my experiences here in Norman, I’ve made plenty of memories during the last four years, both good and bad.

For every fun night out I had on Campus Corner, there was an awkward moment with a cute girl that ruined any chance I had. I’ve had the privilege of learning from some of the best professors on campus, and I’ve had the burden of struggling to discern what tenured blowhards and teacher assistants with thick accents were trying to say. I had my share of successful exams and papers, but I’ve had a few crises that made me question if I was even in the right major, if I had any idea what I wanted to do with my life or if I even should have been in college at all.

The funny thing about all this is that I still don’t really know what I want to do with my life.

This seems alarming at the outset: I’ve got student-loan debt that needs to be paid off, I don’t have a real job lined up yet, and I don’t really have any short-term or long-term plans for my life. And the more I think about all of this, the more I realize it’s not really that big of a deal if I don’t know where I’m going yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely worried — to an extent. The idea of staying in retail after getting my bachelor’s degree is not an appealing one. I still ask myself at times if I should have become a computer science or engineering major instead in the hopes of having a job waiting for me. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, though, so I took a path that would have let me be creative. In some ways, maybe it doesn’t make much of a difference. With the national unemployment rate still at about 9 percent and the instability of the economy, it’s likely most of us won’t be in one career our entire lives anyway, let alone doing what we got our degrees for.

There’s a more optimistic way to look at this situation, though: life is hardly a static event, and there are plenty of chances at new experiences and plenty of paths to choose from.

Maybe some aren’t ready for the working world just yet, and they want to try their hand at graduate school first. Traveling the world before settling down is always an option, and one I’d like to try eventually.

No matter what we choose, we’re young enough to see a lot and do a lot more, and we should use those opportunities to the best of our ability.

If you’re graduating with me this weekend, good luck getting to that next ladder. If you’ve got some time left here at OU, enjoy it trying to find out who you want to be.

No matter what your circumstance, though, live life to the fullest. Make the most out of everything you get. Make friends and relationships, experience everything you can, make a life of no regrets or what-ifs, and figure out what’s meaningful to you.

Robert Frost once said, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

— AJ Lansdale, professional writing senior