Well, we are here: dreaded finals. It feels like yesterday we were in the midst of midterm season!
With finals season upon us, it’s time for me to procrastinate all my work, reflect about the semester and ultimately write my concluding Jumbo’s Journey column for the semester. So sad, I know.
You can always tell when it is finals period — not just from a calendar, but also by how students change their behaviors and mannerisms (especially the first years, considering it’s their first finals period). During finals period, students flock to Tisch as it becomes the hottest building on campus. (I couldn’t find a seat anywhere, not even in the reading room.) Caffeine consumption spikes at alarming rates — we all have to keep The Sink workers in our prayers. GPA calculators and ChatGPT therapists take over Tufts_Secure, which I’m convinced is why I couldn’t load a single Canvas page. These damn kids and their AI therapists.
At the end of the day, though, the biggest indicator of finals season isn’t necessarily how everyone’s study habits change (you’re still going to spend half your time studying on Instagram reels), but rather how everyone talks about the future. Finals tend to induce everyone to concentrate on the future, whether it’s about the grade you’re going to end up with or about what your life will be after college.
It’s always an interesting phenomenon that blankets Tufts campus. Earlier, I was in the Mayer Campus Center trying to do all the reading for my class that I ‘promised’ myself I would do later (I obviously did not do it later) when I overheard a conversation between two students. They were both talking about the future and how Tufts will benefit them and if it would be worth spending all this time and effort they’re putting in writing a paper for their class. Then, one of them says, “Lowkey, dude, I can’t remember the last time I was in the present not thinking about the future.”
While at first I didn’t think much of it — I was distracted by all this riveting reading in front of me — I kept coming back to that conversation, because that whole ‘thinking about the future’ thing had been with me basically all semester, not just during finals.
This past semester, I found myself thinking about the future every single day. My thoughts swung from studying abroad in Barcelona next semester to what my career will look like years from now. Before long, those thoughts turned into a mindset of overanalyzing how every decision I make today might shape my entire life. The pressure I put on myself over ordinary, everyday choices was intense. And unsurprisingly, that self-imposed pressure only led to more anxiety and stress.
Ultimately, that mindset left me overwhelmed, constantly reaching for motivation. I began to feel like every grade I received, or even something as simple as grabbing lunch with a friend, would have some lasting impact on my future.
I’d love to tell you that I overheard some magical second conversation that put everything into perspective, and now I’m totally chill about the future. But… yeah, no. That mindset is still very much here. The difference is that I’ve started paying attention to it. I’ve reflected on it more, questioned it more and tried to understand where it comes from.
What I’ve started to realize, though, is that we’re not supposed to have it all mapped out. It’s just impossible. Life is messy, winding and full of unexpected turns, and the more I try to control it, the more overwhelmed I feel. Trying to plan every step and understand how this decision will affect my 30-year-old self only leaves me exhausted and anxious. It’s like I’m carrying a weight that doesn’t even belong on my shoulders. The truth is, life is just meant to happen. Some things are just meant to unfold as they will, and the more I accept that, the more room there is to actually live.
It’s not about giving up on goals or ignoring the future. Definitely not. It’s more about remembering that the only moment I can truly live in is right now. It’s literally a waste of time if I’m overthinking about some hypothetical future. Moments like sitting with friends without thinking about what comes next or stopping to take a picture of the beautiful sunset over Dewick don’t erase the uncertainty of what’s ahead, but they do remind us that life doesn’t have to be some constant race to a perfect future.
So, as we finish up the semester and get ready for a much-needed and well-deserved break, we should emphasize not constantly thinking about the future, but rather just trying to live in the present. The future will come, as it always does, but it does not have to consume our present. For a while, when we are able to fully appreciate the now and the present, all is calm, all is bright.
Enjoy the break, my dear readers. Thank you to everyone reading this for another amazing semester. I hope that you enjoyed, and will continue on, this journey with me.
Silently,
Ben Rachel
