This is it. This is everything that I’ve been waiting my entire life for. I’m about to be finished with higher education. I’ve trained for this. I’ve lost sleep over this. I’ve worked hard for this. But am I ready for this? Am I ready to devote 80% of my day to answering phones, doing paperwork, and shuttling through the 7am-6pm customer service and sales fog? The honest truth is…I’m not. I’m not ready to wake up at 5:30am, have a cup of coffee, go to work for 10 hours, come home, make dinner, go to bed, and get up just to do it all over again. That’s the picture-perfect idea of Hell on Earth. But in my heart and soul I know this is not what I’m truly meant to do. I’m destined for greatness; I’m meant to travel the world. I’m meant to write novels and drink tea in the afternoon while I watch the leaves turn colors. I’m meant to be an editor for a well-known publishing company and have my articles read throughout the world. I want to live a real-life version of Eat, Pray, Love (the book, not the movie). I want to feel for once that time is simply a man-made concept and that I have infinite amounts of it. I want to stand on top of a ledge and take a deep breath of the fresh air that I’ve been missing for so long. Life after college should be a sigh of relief and a sense of a job well done. But for most people, it isn’t. I’m afraid that I’ll never do any of the things I want to do or see any of the things that make my heart race. You start school in pre-k and then study the majority of the next 14 years. Some choose to go straight into their chosen occupation and some choose to suffer a little while longer. Those who choose to stay will have been working on their education for 18 years or more. That’s 18 out of their potential 22 or 23 years of life. Some people decide to work a part time job at the same time. I’ve had a job since I was 15 years old. That’s 7 years of education and a dose of what the workforce is like. After spending the majority of my life working, studying, or both, I just want to take a breath and see more than just what I’ve seen of the east coast. I want to travel to Italy and pretend like I’m Frances living Under the Tuscan Sun. I want to see Paris and London, but I would even settle for the dry heat of Arizona. Being born and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia isn’t as bad as what some of the other millennial Parkersburg natives seem to think. But it’s definitely instilled in me a desire to explore and to immerse myself in other cultures and far away places. No, I’m not ready to devote my life to working my day away and falling into a routine of nothingness and early mornings. But I am willing to start there, if only to end up exactly where I want to be. You have to start somewhere. For those of you that are starting your journey after college has ended: you aren’t settling for that demanding job. You’re gaining stability and funds to chase your desires. So put on that uniform or suit and don’t forget why you chose to begin this journey in the first place: to fulfill your dreams.