This is the time of year where college seniors start to panic, not knowing what is going to be the next step in their lives. For twenty-something years, all you have known is that once one school year ends another one will begin in just a few months. Well, not if you're graduating. This is the time of year where it can get most stressful for college seniors. Finals are right around the corner, all assignments are due at the same time, and soon we will be entering the real world, coming face to face to real-life challenges. Everything in your life has been so predictable, up until this point. With graduation being less than two weeks away, I am surprisingly very calm about what is next in my life.

People believe that there are steps everyone needs to take to be successful in life, and if you don't take those steps you won't make it in the real world. Growing up I always planned out my life and expected it to be this perfect fairytale life. I would go to college, get my dream job right after graduating, get married a couple of years later, start a family and live happily ever after. But as my future continues to get closer and closer, my real life is as far away from my fairytale life as it can be.

I am a big believer in that everything happens for a reason and whatever is for you no one can take away, and I believe that that is big a reason as to why I am not completely freaking out about graduating. While I won't be graduating with my dream job, I am thankful that I have a job in the field that I want. I have been working for Ann Taylor Loft for a little over three years now and although I don't wish to stay working in retail for the rest of my life, I don't mind going back for a little until the right opportunity presents itself. I thought that at this point in the semester I would be applying for jobs that I am not interested in, saying yes to the first offer that comes my way, but I quickly realized that that is not the best way to handle the situation. Waiting for the right opportunity is what is best. Regardless of whether the next step is a job or grad school, I am positive my life is going to turn out just how it is supposed to.

Just because you don't take the same steps as the next guy, does not determine whether or not you'll be successful. You have your whole life to work and be an adult. I personally believe that society has shaped individuals, from an early age, to follow the same steps. We have the rest of our lives to deal with responsibilities and to be adults, that why I think that we shouldn't stress out about finding a job right after graduation. If you don't feel like you are ready to face the real world, go and travel the world, go to grad school or go cross something off your bucket list. I have realized that stressing yourself out about something that is completely out of your control benefits no one. It is best to stay calm and do your best at everything you do to improve your future.