I just sent in the essay portion of my final exam via e-mail.

I am done with my Bachelor's program. Finished. It's all done and I have nothing left to do but accept it.

The emptiness has given way to a sense of actually having achieved something for once, at having some agency and not having life happen to me. I always assumed that before I could turn in the last assignment and earn my degree fair and square, something would happen and I'd lose again.

I still have a long way to go in life and a lot of loans to pay back, but why should I be concerned? I have a great future ahead of me if I can stay the course and not get discouraged. For all the problems new graduates face, I still have much better chances now than I did trying to hack it as a college dropout. It's time for me to start living like a capable person and stop feeling like life is just one long disaster.