With Spring finally here, also comes one of the most anticipated and dreaded times of the year. I'm talking about graduation time of course. Specifically, college graduation. If you're a college student, then chances are good that you're either having a nervous breakdown or feel like you're about to have a nervous breakdown as you're being seemingly buried under a mountain of end of the year school work. But fear not, because freedom is right around the corner. Though for many of us, it's just as much a profound fear as it is a relief. But if you're still scratching your head over what to do, fear not, because you're not alone.
1. You're finally an adult
Well, admittedly, you've been an adult for a long time now, but what's strange is that it's not until you get out of college and have completed your educational career that you finally come to the horrifying epiphany that you are in fact an adult. I've always found adulthood to be this strange thing that when your childhood never really seems real. Even though you know you're going to grow up, it doesn't feel real to you until that moment when you finally come cognizant how much you've aged and that you're now at the point where you have to start making those decisions you could always rely on your parents to make. It's horrifying.
2. The path is no longer clear
One of the things about school that we tend to take for granted is that when you're in the educational system you always know what comes next. When fifth-grade is over, you go to middle school, then high school, and then things become a little murkier. All of a sudden you're given more and more options as time goes on, until finally you enter college where all decisions seem to be yours and yours alone. It's strange taking control of your own education. Finally, when you graduate college, there is no longer a plan. Maybe you have an internship, maybe even have a job lined up, but for most people this is where things become less linear and more open. Choices are always scary. Because you never know whether or not you're going to make the right one. And then you come to the horrible realization that there is no right answer, and that might be the scariest thing of all.
3. Did I earn this?
There's always that question lingering in the back of your mind, "Do I really deserve this?" Yes, you passed all your classes; sure, you've been working towards this since day one; and yes, everyone is congratulating you and telling you how much you've achieved, but did you? It's that question you ask yourself because not only does it not feel real, but it's never quite what you imagined it would be. The road to graduation is paved with unexpected detours and pit stops along the way. You have a lot of regrets and you wish that you would done things differently both in and out of the classroom. But you have to remember that point is is that you made it. You've got your degree, and you did work hard for it. They don't just give degrees out, you've earned this and you deserve it and you have to keep telling yourself that. And you can't let yourself be brought down by those nagging insecurities that well within your psyche.
4. So what are you going to do now?
I hereby propose that we make it a law that when somebody graduates from college there is a grace period where no one is allowed to ask them "So what are you going to do next?" Because seriously, I know that's to go to the question and that it's just what has always been traditionally asked, but it needs to stop. Nothing induces anxiety-like thinking about what you're supposed to do next. As previously stated, you're an adult and you have to make your own choices now, the world is open, and it's a big scary world at that. You've got so many things that you have to think about now. Where will I live? How will I live? Will I still stay in contact with all my friends? Should I make new friends? Why didn't anyone ever teach me how to do my taxes? Why, after all this time, don't I feel like I "figured it out" yet?
5. It will be OK because it always is
Remember that time you freaked out about that thing you weren't sure how was going to turn out but it turned out all right? That's what's going to happen here. There are millions College graduates every spring, and they're all in the same boat as you. The secret to growing up is that you never really figure it all out. There'll always be things are not sure of, mistakes that you're going to make, and new things that you're learning. That's the thing nobody ever really tells you, the learning never ends. Sure the classes, but you're always being educated by new teachers that are always coming in and out of your life. Colleges not the "final destination" of your journey, Everything ends eventually, but that's a good thing because there's always a new beginning.
