A Thousand Years (Not the Christina Perry Song)

So two Sundays ago, my stake president (aka the leader of the church in the little area that I live), gave me some great advice that I think everyone can benefit from.

One thing a lot of people hate about college is how much it can change from year to year. In high school, every year was pretty much the same for me: same friends, same lunch spot underneath the same spider-dropping tree, same AP teachers, and same extracurriculars. The sameness from year to year was part of what made high school so amazing. Tuesdays meant Showtime rehearsal from 3-5 pm, 30 something people twirling, traipsing, and tripping through music and dance. Wednesdays meant Mutual with Marsha at 7 pm (Mormon Standard time), either at the stake center or the Walnut Building. Monday mornings meant walking from seminary to school with the Mormon kids, then spending an hour or two in the library doing homework and just chilling. Most weeks were the same, most weeks were predictable, and I loved it. It was honestly the traditions and routines that helped keep me sane throughout high school. 

Then BAM! Cooooollllleeeeegggggeeeeee

College is weird because it's impossible for any semester to be similar to another. There's constantly this huge turnover of people at college. People quit school, go home for the summer, switch schools, take gap years, go on missions, study abroad, go on humanitarian trips to the Philippines, take internships in Africa, whatever. The friends you make one semester could very easily be gone the next. Moreover, even if you are lucky enough to make friends that will stick around, it's likely that you will all finish school at different times, depending on you and your friends' majors and careers. And, if you go to a big school like I do, if people move to different housing locations, you may never see them again if you don't make a conscious effort to seek the out.
All of this can equal some serious frustrations. Like, why even bother to make friends if you'll be friendless again in three months? What's the point? 

What I was challenged to do on Sunday, however, was this: "act upon this land as if for years". That little phrase comes from Doctrine and Covenants 51:16-17. If you want to read the whole thing, go here. Although this advice was originally directed to a group of early Mormon pioneers, it applies to us college kids too. We may have only four years, four months, or four weeks in a class, dorm, or ward, but we can choose to make the most out of the time we have. We can make friends, learn new things, build relationships, and make a difference. It's our choice. If we cram our mental calendars with finalities, what meaning is there to our lives? We live a life full of endings but very few beginnings. We spend our lives waiting for what comes next but then never really living life.
So my advice? Put down roots wherever you go. Pretend like you'll be wherever you are right now for another decade, and see how that changes the way you think and live.
You might even get some good friends out of it.