On Wednesday I received something in the mail that was scarier than my Verizon Wireless cell phone bill.

Well, maybe not that frightening, but it certainly gave me chills. I speak not of a bill stamped from Visa or Victoria’s Secret. In fact, what I received was much more intense than how much money I owe different credit card companies.

I got an invitation to a friend’s graduation party.

Now, such things never used to make me think twice. When I was in high school, they did get old after awhile, but they never had any impact on me. The biggest struggle I had with these parties was making sure I didn’t wear the same outfit to different parties in one weekend.

But now I am a junior in college.

It seems like graduation this year crept up on my older friends while they weren’t looking. And what’s funny is I had forgotten they were actually a year older.

When we are in college, age is no longer a factor. There are those of us who can legally drink, and then there are those who must drive those who can drink home. That’s the boundary.

But about mid-March, my best friend started talking about life after college.

Now, I do admit that I am a college student for the mere purpose of preparing myself for the rest of my life - and trying to learn a thing or two while I am here.

With the warmer weather and graduation only days away, I am witnessing my friends as they begin to freak out.

While there are those few who already have jobs and graduate school lined up for next fall, most of my friends graduating have no clue where they are headed next. Besides that, I will have no friends here anymore.

But full of hate for majors they once loved, and longing to be in my shoes, I have found it difficult to help sympathize with my friends in their confused times.

And how could I sympathize? For one, I love my major, and second - I have another year to even begin these post-college anxieties.

Another year.

Wait a second - this could be the last time I sign up for classes, feel guiltless about a summer of fun and still be able to consider Tuesday an excellent night to go to the bar.

Like my friends, I , too, am running out of time.

All this time I have heard the stresses of my best friend and how she is convinced she will work in the fast food industry forever, and all I have been doing is laughing at what a blow-off one of my classes turned out to be.

I compare the stress of having to write a paper for a class with the pressures my friend has that her résumé doesn’t align symmetrically and that’s the cause of her not getting the job she wanted.

So how can I prevent this from happening to me in a year?

As a top-notch procrastinator, I easily can see myself putting my life after college off until the same time my friends have: two weeks before graduation.

But now that I know what road lies ahead, I should be able to dress for the journey.

Through analyzing what exactly it is struggling my older peers, I think I can beat this game, pass go and collect my $200.

Now that I think about it, the majority of my unhappy friends can’t figure out what to do with their majors.

Being a journalism major - which I like - suits the career I want to go into.

OK, the first thing has nothing to change.

Secondly, many seniors I know complain no one warned them how fast their last year would fly by.

So I can’t exactly stop the clock. And no matter how much I try to stretch it, I inevitably will come to the home stretch.

Great investigative work, huh? I can’t solve a damn thing and I can’t protect myself from the dread of getting a job.

With all this in thought, I realized I am protecting myself.

I am taking classes I am interested in and like - which is a lot more than I can say for some people, who only complain about them.

What the future will be like, I am unsure, as I am always changing.

If I ended up having my first dream job, I would already be touring as a prima ballerina.

We aren’t supposed to know what will happen, only try to be sure in ourselves. Through an inner trust, I will get on the right path and if it is what I enjoy I will be successful. Because happiness will be my success.

That and being able to pay my cell phone bill.

Rachel Wright, State News administration reporter, can be reached at wrightr9@msu.edu.