Graduation: What’s Next in Life?

The one question that most graduating seniors dread to be asked is, “What are you doing after graduation?”  It makes us all nervous inside for many reasons. One reason is that we simply do not know what’s next and what is going to happen. We are too busy making sure we graduate college first and we are overwhelmed at the thought of life after graduation.

What makes matters worse is that there are people who already know their next move after graduation and we start to compare ourselves to them; which is the wrong thing to do. You can be happy for them and celebrate with them but you should not allow their success and greatness to define yours. We are all different and will flourish at different rates and we have to realize that, that is okay; it’s a part of life.

I am constantly surrounded by people who have fancy job offers coming at them all the time and I always find myself saying “Congrats!”; wondering when it will be my time to be congratulated. This can be a very depressing phase or a depressing question to answer but be mindful that there will always be light at the end of the tunnel no matter how long and painful the tunnel maybe. Have hope and hang on to it because hope can take you a long way.

As graduating seniors we have to learn to accept the fact that if your plan does not follow through, it is not the end of the world. Draft up another plan and have hope that this new plan will work. I think we expect so much of ourselves that when things do not go as planned we beat ourselves up so bad instead of heading back to the drawing board and sketching up something new. Most of us envision ourselves working in an office the day after we graduate and let’s be honest with ourselves; it’s not going to be that easy and smooth.

Believe it or not we might end up staying with our parents and that is not a sign of failure at all. It all depends on how you look at it. This could very well be a sign of motivation to get out of their house and get your own place. Many graduates try to avoid that path and end up taking a path that is not meant for them and that ultimately sets them back even more.  Remember that many of us major in different fields. The business/ accounting field may always be hiring recent graduates where the writing field may be a bit harder to land a solid job. Everyone and everything is different so we cannot measure our success with others. It’s a different thing to set goals for yourself because that is something that can be measured effectively but comparing yourself to someone else will leave you feeling like you are doing something so wrong in your life.

Once you realize that there is path for you and only you with your name on it, you will have no worries. You will not feel pressured when someone tells you that they have landed an interview or even better actually gotten the job. You will have this mindset where you say to yourself “don’t worry my time will come slowly but surely”. While you are waiting for your time to flourish keep yourself busy with your plan or list of plans because one plan might not always go through.

Don’t get caught up or discouraged in what everyone else is doing, your time will come. Whether it comes a day later than everyone else or a year later just know it is coming and when it does come I hope you are ready for it.