My college graduation anniversary is coming up and, with graduation being this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on what it's like to be a college graduate one year later.
You may have read my previous post about life after graduation and I'm proud to say things have changed since then. I do have a job, and a house (rental, but still), and a fiance. It's all very exciting, let me assure you.
There was only a reasonable amount of sarcasm in there.
I'm entirely grateful for everything that has happened to me over the past year and I'm glad to be in the place I am now, don't get me wrong. It's just, I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but I think I had my sights set a little too high a little too soon.
Not going to school is hard, guys. After a whopping 17 years of schooling, not going anymore is the strangest feeling. Do you know how many times I've literally wished I could go to class, write a paper, or take a test in the past year? Way more than I said in school, that's for sure. School has just become, like, engraved into my brain and without it, it literally doesn't know what to do.
I've thought about going back to school and finishing my minor or going for my master's, but I'm stuck. Do I want to do it to better myself? Will it give me more job opportunities? Do I want to go to school for the safety of going back to school? I haven't found the answer yet.
I'm lucky. I have a job. If you read my previous post, you know that I didn't have a job when I wrote it. I was still living at home and I was anxious, depressed, and more than a little bored and sassy. I expected to get a job offer the second I threw my graduation cap in the air.
I didn't.
And I felt like a failure because of it.
Flash forward to December of that year, and I got hired. Yes, it's part-time. No, I don't get paid a lot. But it's a job. It's experience. Do I hope for better? Of course! I want my book published and to live the author life for the rest of time. But, that doesn't happen for just anyone. It may not happen to me, and I have to live with that. I have to keep going on, I have to keep working hard and applying for jobs whether I want them or not. It's life, and sometimes it's unfair.
Actually, it's usually unfair. You just get used to it.
But, life after graduation isn't as bad as I'm making it seem. In fact, it can be fun and exciting, I promise.
For instance, I have my own home now where I live with my now fiance. It's cute, it's affordable, and I'm blessed. It doesn't have it's own yard but hey, you have to have something to work towards.
And that job that's only part-time that I mentioned? Well, it also gives me freedom. I work Tuesday-Thursday. Am I making bank, no. But do I have the ability to travel on the weekends? Yes! I've been able to go to New York City and Orlando because of the freedom I have with this job. I've been ale to relax and work on my book four days out of the week. I've been able to spend more time with my sister and niece because I'm not dying from work overload. Always look on the sunny side, right?
So, if you're just graduating, congratulations and welcome to the real world. Unless you're going to grad school, in which case you still have more practice time to be an adult.
Don't let the world get you down. Those dream jobs you're applying to? Keep applying, but if they don't email you back don't let it make you feel like crap. Apply to the next one. You have to start somewhere. You have to get experience. So if the first job you get after college isn't your dream job or doesn't come until 7 months after graduation, don't fret! There is still light at the end of the tunnel. You know why? Because you're young! There is still plenty of working ahead of you! Live with your parents as long as you can, if they let you, because you need to get on steady feet. It's okay.
You're, what, 22? You're just getting started. Dream big, but don't set your sights at the presidency quite yet. Remember, you have to start somewhere and the only way you can go from the bottom, is up.