Weeks pass, seasons change, and all the while two terrifying words circulate the brains of young adults everywhere: college graduation. But what ignites such debilitating fear? Graduation or the life that begins after it?
Graduating from college means starting a new life, and that change provokes some serious soul searching. Did you major in the right thing? Will your future job make you happy? Will you make enough money to pay for your own WiFi? After all, the connections you have made in college, the internships you have accumulated, your GPA, etc. are all you have now, right? You're stuck. At least that's how it feels.
One day you wake up and you can no longer reap the benefits of a college student. No more student discounts, club activities, constant support from professors and administration, no more hand-holding. The title of "student" no longer accentuates your resume. You are thrust into the real world to defend your honor, so you better gear up! Because one day you're at a party with your best friends, and the next you're unsure of who your best friends even are. The class ring around your finger loses its shine, and your expensive cap and gown occupies a small space in a box labeled "college." Jobs await the lucky ones, but an intensive search for belonging haunts the rest. Graduation feels like standing on top of a cliff and dropping a bunch of money over the edge, only to scramble back down the mountain to try to gather it again. That money is your tuition, your time, your energy, your passion, and the chances of catching it all seems slim to none. Your entire identity suddenly falls to the ground and you stand there completely bare, because what is life when you're no longer a student? Twenty-two years of preparation and it's still a mystery.
But remember the emotional roller coaster you are taking yourself on is all in your head. Your anxiety is preparing you for fight or flight, and college has prepared you more than you know might know for the fight. You are delving into so much unknown territory, and although you might feel alone, you are never are. It's true that you probably will not come out on top right away. At your age, Tina Fey worked at the YMCA and Oprah got fired from being a news reporter, but when Kathleen Kennedy was given the right resources, she rose to the top in just three years.
So jump into the real world like a baby bird from a nest -- with a positive attitude and lots of room for mistakes. Seize every opportunity, because among all of the bad that could possibly be around the corner, good still emerges. Remember what you invested into your college education. You had a few years to make your career decision, and you have a lifetime to make the most of it.
Weeks will continue to pass, the seasons will change, and you will do the same.