1) Snow days are God’s gift to those of us who lost our summer vacations.
Because most Southern cities shut down during snowstorms in the same way that the Empire shut down the Rebel Alliance's base on Hoth, snow days are a unique opportunity for those of us acclimating to the loss of our summer vacations. As long as you can't or don't work remotely, snow days are cause for celebration and sledding when your employer cancels work and gives you one more precious day of (hopefully paid) vacation!
2) Where are all the men?!
In college, it’s easy to find potential significant others. Of course, you have to narrow down your selections based on your own preferences, but at least campuses offer a wider draft pool. Once you graduate and are out in the real world, you tend to be limited to work, any particular meet-ups or groups you take part in, or church if you so choose. Unfortunately, work-related relationships come with their own warning label, and at church, it can seem like the rest of the young professionals coupled up right before you arrived. You might be lucky enough to meet someone out and about, or at a meet-up where you share common interests; however, the screening processes for potential dates tend to require more scrutiny. Finding a significant other in this stage of life is not impossible, but it does require more thought, attention, and intent.
3) "How to Make Friends 101"
Remember kindergarten? All you had to do was smile, ask to borrow another kid’s crayons, and you immediately had a best friend to color with. Or college? You could exchange names, majors, career hopes and dreams, and then empathize which each other about good and bad professors, that 20-page paper coming up, or the midterm you thought you might have failed. But once you arrive to the real world, you run into the challenges of having co-workers from various generations and experiences, new friends that you have common interests with but who live far away, and old friends from school that are getting married or having kids. Finding and keeping friendships in this new life stage is more difficult and definitely requires more work, but it is worth having close friends from various life stages so that they can offer advice, fun, networking, and much more!
4) Climbing up (and falling off) the job ladder.
Everyone seems to know exactly what they want to do after graduating. But here’s the tricky thing about career paths: in order to land your dream job, you have to be in the right place at the right time when that particular position is available. Because those moments are nearly impossible to plan out, instead, embrace the steps that lead you to your dream job. Relish the education that beginning jobs provide, both at work and at home (like budgeting). Learn how to use new friendships for networking. Take side jobs to either help with income or explore other professional avenues you may not have initially considered.
5) You are not alone.
Despite the fact that finding relationships or making friends may be more difficult in this period of life, remember that generations before you, and young professioanls alongside you, go through the same growing pains. After being trained in “how to go to school” for the past 16 or more years, experiencing the ups and downs of young adulthood is normal, otherwise shows like “Friends” and “How I Met Your Mother” would not be so popular. Experiencing feelings of loneliness, frustration, anxiety will go hand in hand with being promoted, celebrating birthdays and weddings, and going on adventures with new friends. Learn how you respond to these situations and create support systems within your family and friends to help you through them. Remember that unless a meteor has hit Earth and wiped out mankind, there will always be someone whose shoulder you can lean on.
