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It is 2010. Or is it the year twenty-ten? Or do you say just the year ten? With time, we will figure out how make this awkward number flow into a sentence or in a conversation. Along with a new decade this new year brings a college graduation for the once class of 2006.

Currently, some of my college friends have hurried back to San Diego to cram in two more classes, to graduate in the spring. While others have left for Hong Kong or Buenos Aires, to get one more chance at a study abroad experience. Some have taken an overnight road trip to Vegas, to try their luck in sin city, only to return with headaches and receipts.

The countdown has begun. The countdown until the class of twenty-ten goes their separate ways. The countdown until we get jobs, or go to graduate school, or start a family. The countdown until we share email's with roommates instead of beds.

Our firsts are now becoming our lasts.

Our last thursday night at the pennant. Our last study group in the back of Copley library. Our last senior night and our last sunset on the rooftop. And the pressure to make every last the best, is sometimes more overwhelming than graduation itself. We call this pressure, FOMO, which is short for, the fear of missing out. No one wants to be that person who missed the last senior barbeque or bonfire. But at times, you can get so afraid of missing out that you miss out on yourself. With this, you miss out on your twenty-ten and it becomes everyone else's. It is important to remember that life is a cycle. Although college may never come back around, a different stage will. Another stage where you will have to choose which 'firsts' will become your 'lasts' and which 'lasts' will become the best. And the only thing you should be afraid of, is missing out on yourself.