As a recent inductee into the world of adulting, this past summer has been a very... interesting... time for me as I leave the nest of the educational system and spread my wings. For those of us who were not blessed enough to have a job offer lined up for them right after graduation, the first few months of post-grad life are a strange, dreamlike in-between world where you can go anywhere and do anything that you want... if only you could figure out what you want.
1. Walking off the stage at graduation and trying to wrap your mind around the fact that, after 16 years in the educational system, you are no longer a student
Who am I now? What do I do with all of my time and energy? How do I go through life when it's not structured by the quarter/semester system? What do you mean I don't get summers off?
2. Post-graduation euphoria
Goodbye, midterms, lab reports, and the bell curve... and hello freedom.
3. Freedom, you say?
Well, it was fun to fantasize about for a little bit.
4. Doing job interviews is oddly similar to a match to the death.
The similarities are uncanny... and by uncanny I mean deeply disturbing.
5. The struggle of adjusting to a new schedule
I'm pretty sure this is a legitimate allergy and that I have a very severe case of it.
6. Realizing that, even though you're done with school, you're not done learning
It's like being in school all over again, except instead of a professor you have a boss, and instead of worrying about doing well to get the grade, you have to worry about doing well to earn money so that you can survive.
7. Commuting
If you live far away from your work site or you're like me and your job requires a lot of traveling, then sitting in traffic is basically your second job.
8. Feeling like a little kid in an adult's body
When I was a kid, I thought 21-year-olds were sophisticated, accomplished, and mature. Now I realize that the only real differences between 21-year-old me and 9 year-old-me are a credit card, actual responsibilities, and an unhealthy dependence on caffeine.
9. Explaining post-grad life to your friends who are still in school
Whereas you can usually get away with dozing off in the middle of a 400-person lecture hall, you most certainly cannot get away with dozing off at work.
10. Coming to terms with the fact that you're in a new phase of life; a phase of life that's very different than the one some (or a lot) of your friends are still in
Don't be afraid of the darkness that comes with closing a door, because eventually, it will disappear in the light of another door opening.
11. Learning to embrace change
The only things in life that never change are dead.
