Do any of these symptoms apply to you? Restlessness, feeling “keyed up” or “on edge,” trouble concentrating, irritability, trouble falling or staying asleep, anxiety over an uncertain future accompanied by a feeling of doom, a feeling of limitation when looking at the options in front of you.

If this describes you, chances are you do not have the latest medically coined anxiety disorder but are instead facing what is supposed to be a milestone in your life: graduating from college.

This pivotal window of time can be filled with more stress than most of us have experienced in our young lives. As if getting a “real” job isn’t enough, we have to face leaving the safe little cocoon that the UW-Madison has provided for us over the last four (or more) years. There are decisions we will have to make that we are not even aware of yet.

The accumulation of factors can seem daunting. Yet if we can release our minds from our own perspectives, we will begin to see how fortunate we are and that the choices we are making are opportunities that we must be grateful for. In all of our young lives we have done things that could not be conceived of in many parts of the world. Take a minute to imagine what life at our age would be like in these places:

According to Compassion, a humanitarian fund-raising organization, in regions of northeast India you would be considered “over-the-hill” at 22, as the life expectancy is a mere 41 years. Since there is a 45 percent literacy rate, chances are you would not be able to read or write your own name. If you were planning on having a child in the near future, there would be only a 40 percent chance that baby would live.

In southern Africa, your words would not be pregnant with unfairness regarding your graduate school options; you would be paralyzed by fear as you faced a famine in the coming months that could wipe out 14.4 million people.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies report that in some areas the HIV/AIDS pandemic affects up to 34 percent of the adult population. This would mean at least one in three of your buddies may be infected by the fatal virus.

Hailing from the much focused-on area of Afghanistan would mean you may be returning back to your native land after having to flee major air-strike attacks that tore apart entire cities. The meager home you lived in no longer exists. Your new residence is a bombed out building with broken windows, no doors, and temperatures dropping each night.

The only hope you still grasp onto is of rumors that work-for-pay projects might be coming through the area. You might have the chance to make $2 a day. Refugees International, another humanitarian organization details the despair that blankets these cities that have been seemingly abandoned by government, industry, and in most cases compassion.

There is no lack of examples to be drawn upon that highlight the fact that we are among the most privileged individuals in the world. The past and present leaders of the United States have made great sacrifices to ensure that we live in the best conditions possible. We take for granted things like government and policing agencies, health care, financial aid, state and federal programs, and a competitive market.

When we take these factors into consideration, and divorce our own mini-dramas, we can see how fortunate we are and how we have more than enough to live wonderful, prosperous lives. So relax.

Don’t worry about the fact that the job you’re taking wasn’t on your radar screen of acceptable positions a few months ago. You’ll be fine if you didn’t get accepted to into the law school you wanted to attend. And yes, it’s even OK if you have to move back in with Mom and Dad for a while.

Furthermore, as we near your graduation date we can express our newfound view of how great we have it without chanting mantras of patriotism, but by simply embracing the outlook of gratitude. Enjoy the opportunities that are presented to us, rather than wallowing in disappointment over those that are not. Even appreciate the struggles we may encounter over the next few years as we discover the trail that will lead to our career path.

Because as M. Scott Peck opens his best-selling book, “The Road Less Traveled,” “Life is difficult.” Fortunately, compared to our international cohorts and as benefactors of place and circumstance, many of us will never know the true meaning of these words.

Jessie Stomski is a senior majoring in journalism.