You spend hours on college applications. Then you wait. Eventually, you commit to attend a specific university. Then you wait for months until you can actually begin your journey with your future school. Senior year is about waiting patiently and somehow not forgetting to live in the midst of all your waiting.

The first place I remember learning how to wait was at the pediatrician’s office when I was a little kid. The whole waiting room creeped me out at times because people always looked stressed or worried or annoyed. The waiting room housed a large wall that separated the sick section from the healthy section. The ironic thing was that I always heard people cough on both sides of the wall.

At times, I think we forget that no matter whether or not we have committed to attend a specific university or not, we are all waiting. We are waiting for the next chapter of our lives. Each of us is fighting to keep living in this high school world for a little bit longer. No amount of excitement for the future will make it come any sooner.

Don’t hit pause or snooze while we wait because that will not speed up the process. In fact, it will just blur the memories and leave the year feeling empty. I read a quote a few days ago that captured the essence of the senior year waiting game.

“Patience is not the ability to wait. Waiting is a fact of life. Patience is the ability to keep good attitude while waiting.” –Joyce Meyer

So, cheers to a year of good attitudes and an even better community. Frankly, the schoolwork grows tiring and even the most exciting subjects can seem dull if we forget that this is all a building block to our future. Senior year is practice for the next step. It is about being a leader and working for the future of a school that you will not be an everyday part of.

Senior year is about giving and laughing and smiling and hugging and being—simply being in the moment. It is not about waiting. It is about throwing yourself so hard into the community that you forget about all the waiting. But on those days that you find yourself sitting in the waiting room, remember that you are so far from alone. We are right here next to you.