A final farewell: Thank you, Towson

By: Megan Graves, Columnist 

We did it. We made it to the last week of another semester. Granted, we still have the uphill battle of exams ahead of us, but the end is in sight. For some of us, the full end is in sight with graduation rapidly approaching. For some of us like myself, it’s almost time to leave Towson.

This will be my last article for Deep Fried Feminism.

I feel a lot of things. I feel proud to be getting my degree, scared to be thrown (and I mean thrown) out into the real world and equal parts sad and excited about this big change. Most importantly, I feel thankful for the opportunity I’ve had with this column. Writing for you has been my favorite part of my education and it’s the hardest part to say goodbye, too.

I haven’t been perfect. I’ve gotten things wrong and said things I wish I hadn’t said. But I have learned so much and I won’t stop trying to better myself and the way I understand the world.

So, I just want to say thank you. Thank you to those of you who read my column when you see it in your emails or in a paper on campus; thank you to those of you who shared my column on Facebook; thank you to the people who discussed my writing with me in the classes we shared; thank you for those of you who argued with me and called me out when I didn’t get things quite right.

Thank you for following along with me as I semi-publicly grew as a person; as a feminist.

Being able to write about my opinions as a feminist has been invaluable to my development as a person. Really, it’s been more therapeutic than I can put into words. It helped me focus my emotions when they seemed scattered, and each time you shared, liked, read, or spoke to me about my writing, you reminded me that I’m not alone; that things are scary and unpredictable right now, but there are good people out there willing to stand next to you while you walk through them.

I know that exams and graduation are tough, so make sure you take care of yourself. Take the time to make sure you’re breathing (seriously). One thing I’ve learned with impending graduation is that it comes so damn fast. Faster than you’re going to feel ready for.

I also want to take this time to say that it’s okay if you didn’t graduate from college, or if your journey took more than four years. Everyone has a different path, as corny as that may sound. It’s really, really hard not to compare ourselves to our peers. I struggle with it. But maybe if we took that energy and focused it on feeling proud of the things we have accomplished, things would be a little easier. Again, easier said than done.

We all have something to be proud of. Not because we did better than another person, but because we worked on ourselves and made something happen. For me, graduating has been overwhelming. But when I take a second to step back, I can say to myself, “I did the damn thing.”

Maybe graduating college isn’t your damn thing, and that’s more than fine. But something is. So find your damn thing, do it and take the time to feel proud about it.

I’m going to miss writing for you. But I’m excited to use the tools I’ve gained in maintaining this column to continue to know what happens around me and focus on how I feel about it. It’s time for me to say goodbye to Deep Fried and see where my feminism leads me next. Because guys, I did the damn thing.

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