Everyone is undoubtably familiar with the expression ‘your student days are the best of your life’, I would hazard a guess that almost every student reading has been on the receiving end of this statement at some point. If you are anything like me, you may feel gripped by anxiety and the panic to immediately run outside and do something crazy all in the name of having a cracking story to tell at a dinner party at the ancient age of 42 when life is all but over.

And herein lies the problem with this statement, it is so hyperbolic that it subsequently causes intense anxious feelings that the sands are running out. This is ridiculous, students are so young and, with the way life expectancies are heading, we are potentially only a fifth of the way through our lives. The idea that all the fun is already done is incredibly depressing and surely incorrect. The statement conjures images of the crazy clubbing scenes seen in films followed by the protagonists doing everything but working, soundtracked by an impeccable indie playlist. Consequently, students are left feeling they have failed at their supposed best days when their student life mostly comprises hours just staring at a laptop or nights in watching Bake Off with flatmates.

The idea all the fun is already done is incredibly depressing and surely incorrect

Another expression commonly heard is ‘youth is wasted on the young’. As students, yes, we are probably the freest we will ever be during our lives but, firstly, I think most are aware of this fact. Secondly, holding your future in the palm of your hand and exploring all the many different paths you can take is exciting but also feels extremely overwhelming and scary. Many feel paralysed by choice: start a career, save for a house etc; or throw caution to the wind, and go travelling for a year or two to see the world when you’re young as there’s plenty of time to be sensible later.

Moreover, we are so young that we do not fully know ourselves yet. One of the major boons of student life, and I think one of the main areas people wistfully look back on, is the time of self-exploration, discovering who we are, what we really like, and what we truly want. While this is a luxury thanks to the more laidback schedules students have compared to adult life with a job and kids to sort out, all this reflecting can be hard work, no, really, and can leave students feeling unmoored and anxious. But it is essential to lay the groundwork for later life when we can reap the rewards of feeling more secure in our identity having had the time to try different things and make mistakes or change our minds.

Which brings me back to the statement at the crux of this article which I believe it to be a double-edged sword. On one side, it makes us aware of the fleeting nature of youth and how we only have this time once. On the other side, this easily gives way to a feeling of alarm and needing to cram all the ‘living’ into three years, in addition to a sense of impending doom as the time to don that all important gown approaches. Of course, leaving the era of student life behind is momentous and can be painful. It depends on what you view as the ‘best’. For some, student life may really be the best memories they make, but for others, not so much. Life has many different phases, some are better than others, but the point is they all come to a close at some point. I highly doubt the very first phase that we experience as brand new barely-adults, learning how to live and cope, similar to Bambi learning to walk, is going to be the best. So yes, be a student, be silly, be pretentious, enjoy it to the fullest, but take comfort in the fact the best is yet to come.

Image: Alice Martin