One of my favorite quotes is from Dr. Seuss: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

This post originally appeared on Anna’s 1st blog, Annamotion.

Confession: My heart attaches to people and things easily and deeply.

I’m the person who feels like I’ve lost good friends when a television series ends!

Remember when the very last The Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King, was in theaters? I think my parents even took me out of school early to go see it. The intense epicness calmed down in an ending scene and as the credits began to roll, so did my tears. It was over! These new friends I had made and stories I could be a part of had come to an end and I’d never be able to look into their fictional lives ever again.

So you can imagine the tsunami of emotions crashing through me as I sit here in my dorm room of the past 4 radical years, getting ready to graduate college in 1 week from today!?

For my close friends and fellow classmates, no matter the words spoken or left unspoken, there is a love in my heart that is too deep for words. For the professors who molded, built upon, and totally flipped upside down my old mindsets. They encouraged me, they were always there for me, and they helped me to grow into the woman I am today. Some changed my life more than they even know–from lessons that will stick with me forever, to those who believed in me and helped ME to believe in myself. So many memories–good and bad– that shaped me.

Lessons were learned here. Decisions were made here. Strangers became sisters here. My life changed here.

How can you not cry to think of saying goodbye to such a monumental time of your life?

I could be overtaken by a sense of loss and sadness…or…I can look back and gratefully smile. THIS HAPPENED! What a blessing that these 4 years of life in this place happened!

Because my natural personality tendency is to become deeply attached to all I know and love and feel heartbroken when it is taken away, this Dr. Seuss quote has helped me so often to shift my mindset from sadness to gladness.

To change from “Woe is me! A good thing has ended!” to “Woot for me! A good thing happened!”

This isn’t a loss; this was a gift! If we continue to live in the past because we’re trying to hold onto “the good times”, we’ll miss out on experiencing the full, wonderful consequences of those good times. What’s the point of a wonderful time of growth if we don’t continue to use it for growth?

So I encourage you, whenever you’re feeling sad as you approach a change in your life or whenever you’re looking back with tears at a time that once was, think of this little phrase: Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.