It has almost been two years since I have graduated from college. I graduated with BA in Health Administration and Policy and a minor in Sociology. Every semester I took 16-18 credits. In college, I was very involved with my Filipino-American cultural groups. I would socialize and network as much as I could. I was working a part-time retail job while interning. Then, I graduated and left. It was different. I didn't feel like the same person I was at that 4-year college institution. I felt free but held back especially when it came to full time job hunting.
It took half a year to find a full-time job that was nothing but similar to my internship. The only difference was, I had benefits. Months passed with my first job and I knew it was time for me to move on, so I found another position. It was a position I knew would challenge me and allow me to learn the skills I needed to reach my career goals. But there a problem: I still felt held back.
I call this feeling, the in-between. The way I describe it is you have graduated college and have a job but still don't feel like you're there yet. Where it feels as if you still need to do more in order to reach those goals. In college, no one warns you how long it will take in order for you to reach those goals. No one ever taught or told me that in order to get where I want to be it'll take another 3-5 years, essentially going through undergrad all over again. This in-between makes you question your potential, your past decisions, and wondering if you're following the path you should be following in order to be happy. And it's hard not to question whether you're doing this all for the right reasons.
However, there are perks of being in this in-between. You're able to find things to distract you while you find answers to those questions, from running at the National Mall to random trips to New York City. It can be fairly easy to find something to keep you level-minded.
For now, I'll be brunching, wine tasting, finding new food trucks, and figuring out how to use the puppy filter on my beagle.
