I guarantee you’ve had that question asked of you at least once in your life. Maybe you’ve asked that of yourself. Currently, I see myself graduating from community college and finishing up my first semester at my first choice University. Had you asked me that in November, I would have said to you, “Anywhere but here for six months.” Speaking of November, one of my favorite songs was released in November. The song is called “Year From Now” by Katelyn Tarver. The song perfectly embodied the feelings that I had towards college and my life at the time. I even wrote my own version of the song to express my feelings.

At the time, I felt so exhausted and drained because I thought I was juggling so much at once and felt like time was moving at a snail’s pace. It was my most challenging semester by far, and when it was over, it felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. I would play “Year From Now” repeatedly for days before, during, and after my finals for that semester. The reason was that I was so motivated by the fact that I was finishing community college the following December, which is only seven months from now.

While the song itself has so many layers of emotional depth, putting my own spin on it added so much more. The piece, in my opinion, represents the end of a relationship and the awkwardness and loneliness that follows, as well as the yearning for those feelings to fade to be able to start anew. While some endings may be amicable, some aren’t amicable and can leave someone feeling lonely. Sometimes being in a tiring situation can be lonely. For example, college burnout. I played this song whenever I felt burnt out that semester, and I still do now.

This is also representative of the relationships I have with my family. There’s a lyric in the song that mentions hugging the person Katelyn had been with previously when leaving a gathering and it being a bittersweet feeling. My brother, cousin, and I all graduate within weeks of each other. We’ll all be living our own separate lives even more than we have in the past, and it’s a bittersweet feeling to watch people around you whom you love start to grow and change right in front of your eyes.

To conclude this, I still hope that things will continue to get even better for me a year from now. I know everyone’s had those moments where they’ll tell themselves that everything is going to change and be better a year from now. That’s why “Year From Now” represents me because even in the sadness and loneliness that’s felt in the song and even the video for the song, there’s a subtleness of optimism and hope for healing. I’m an optimistic person, sometimes considered “terminally optimistic.” Especially with the past two years, we’d all love to see ourselves in a better place a year from now. I’m still hoping that for myself.

Year From Now – Katelyn Tarver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhWQerGf7rE