I’ve always been interested in endings. Series finales of shows, final movies in a saga, the last line of a book—everything that has been explored on the page or experienced through a screen wrapped up by a few fleeting words.

The end of an academic year is bittersweet. You’re happy to get out of some annoying classes and be done with schoolwork for a few months, but it’s also a year closer to the day you get your diploma and are supposed to have your life planned out. For some, this year marks that date. There’s a comfortable feeling forged in a college community, whether that’s through friendships with classmates, a club you’ve joined or a job you’ve made your home, and the end of the year feels like the end of that.

Though I have a year left at Columbia—and The Chronicle—I’ve been reflecting on what the end of this year means for me. Many of my closest friends are graduating and moving on from Columbia and the newsroom, and I’m getting closer every day to that piece of paper I’ve been working so hard for. As this year comes to a close, a few of my favorite endings come to mind and provide me with the comfort I need.

“All was well.” 

J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter” saga

This is a feeling everyone hopes to feel when one chapter of their life ends, leading to the beginning of another. Though no one at Columbia—that I know of—had to defeat the Dark Lord, change is its own beast to conquer. Knowing that everything is going to be OK, despite any previous challenges faced and future trials to come, can put minds at ease as we all move forward with our lives and careers.

“Who’s to say this isn’t what happens?”

John Dorian, “Scrubs”

JD was known for his constant daydreams that usually featured celebrity cameos, unicorn fantasies and an unsettling number of exploding heads. In the final episode of “Scrubs,” JD is leaving Sacred Heart hospital to take a job elsewhere, and he imagines that everyone—dead and alive—who has influenced his eight years there is waiting for him in the hall leading to the exit. When he gets there, he imagines what his life might be like after walking out of the door.

He’s used to ridiculous fantasies that have no chance of coming true, but picturing his life with his future wife, children and best friends, he wonders, “Who’s to say this isn’t what happens?”

That’s something to live by. Who’s to say you won’t have your dream life, who’s to say everything that’s terrible right now won’t get better, who’s to say going to liberal arts college was a poor decision? It doesn’t matter what other people say will come of your life, it only matters what you believe you can make happen.

“Whether we see each other next weekend, next month, never again, it doesn’t matter. It’s only time.”

Brian Kinney, “Queer as Folk”

With the end of the year comes graduation and the inevitable breaking up of friend groups. No one is going to end up in the same place in life as their friends from college, but that doesn’t mean anything. The friendships forged in school are ones that can last a lifetime. Even if you don’t end up in the same city, even if you spend years apart, even if you never see each other again, you’ll always have the memories from your time with friends who were closer than family.

“Should we get some coffee?”

“Sure, where?”

Rachel Green and Chandler Bing, “Friends”

Cafecito, anyone?