We all fear it – that one fateful day where we go from living the glory days to reminiscing about them. That day comes at different times for different people, but it always eventually comes, so they say.

I’ll never forget chatting with a friend after our high school graduation. He said, “What if that’s it? What if those were the best days of our lives?” A nearby parent responded, “No, don’t worry … that’s college.”

But now many of us, myself included, are in the midst of our final semester of those “best days.” And that same feeling of reluctance and fear is beginning to set in a little, just as it did in those final days and months of high school. But this isn’t high school.

After you grab that second diploma and turn to your friend and ask if that’s as good as it gets, you won’t hear too many nearby parents respond: “No, that’s in the next couple years when you’re permanently forced into true adulthood where you have to hold a steady job and pay bills and taxes.”

OK, well that might be a pretty pessimistic outlook on life after college. And who’s to say these are our best days because it’s different for every person.

Whether all of us are living the glory days right now isn’t certain, but what is certain is that we’ll never again have the chance to develop relationships centered around classrooms, dorm floors and bar stools.

Never again will we be able to meet so many different individuals under such carefree circumstances. That’s what scares me most about walking across that stage in May. Once I walk off with that diploma, I’ll be closing my four-year window of opportunity to interact with so many unique people in such an exciting setting.

You go to college to learn your particular trade, so you can join the real world equipped to succeed. But what I think you learn most in college is how to interact with others – people skills. And much of that comes outside of the classroom.

Most of us came here knowing few, if any, people, but we’ll leave having established relationships that will last a lifetime. We’ll also leave with a better understanding of exactly who we are as people.

Through our four years here, all of us hit our ups and downs with other people. But it’s the lessons we learn in handling those situations with our boyfriend/girlfriend, roommate, professor, etc. that equip us for the real world.

You can know the tools of your trade as well as you want, but if you don’t have the people skills you’ll need to interact with individuals in that trade, you won’t be successful. All of us should get out, interact with as many people as possible and take full advantage of our window of opportunity because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

As for those “best days,” I’d like to think every tomorrow for the rest of my life will be my best day. But if that one fateful day does come where I find myself talking about the glory days, I’ll be glad I used those days to meet plenty of others who can sit around and reminisce about them with me. Will you?