A Salute to the End of an Academic Year

One morning during our recent Holy Week sojourn in Los Angeles, my phone bleeped with the warning of an imminent earthquake.  Sure enough, within a few seconds the sofa on which I was sitting gently rocked side to side. And then it was over.  A quakette where we were located; a serious but not widely destructive shaker in the San Diego area where the epicenter was located.

After experiencing personally what he terms a “lifequake,” bestselling author, Bruce Feiler (Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age) spent five years traveling around and interviewing people about their own life changes.  Feller concluded major transitions often cause us to fear and feel overwhelmed. But they can also be opportunities to set new directions, open new chapters, break free of old patterns, and move forward.  

The end of an academic year is always a time of transition. Some students are about to graduate. If the future has been determined (a call, job and certainty of where you will be living), the change may feel relatively minor. But if you’re graduating into the unknown, the level of anxiety might rise significantly. 

Even those we expect to be around come fall may feel some rattling and rumbling at the end of this academic year. While things went okay this year, how will my work unfold in the next?  And a few (we surely hope not many) may face some painful lifequakes if there’s a sudden illness, ruptured relationship, financial crisis or other major disruption over the summer.  

Whatever the degree of rocking and rolling this end of the academic year may bring to you, I pray this time of transition treats you gently and gracefully.  And since some may not be around during the summer, when my time to depart will occur, let me say a sincere word of thanks for the privilege of traveling with you on a brief portion of LSTC’s journey.