Within a few weeks, Fall 2016 graduation will be upon us and people will be graduating- moving on with their lives, and going on to their career paths. People have been asking me as a soon-to-be graduate if I am afraid to graduate, or if I have been on the career search. All these questions circle around fear and anxiety. I want to tell you all that as an adult being kicked into the real world of 2017, I am ready.

I wasn't sheltered from the workforce: I have various job experiences, and I pay my own bills (of course still owing my parents money for loans, gas, and food. God bless them). I have been through situations that require an adult mentality, both in and out of the workforce. I understand that people are wondrous and curious about my future. So I will be blunt about this, but also- it is no one's business but my own of what I do with my life.

I am ready for 2016 to close. I have already received job interviews, job offers and I am already living in an apartment that my boyfriend and I are paying for. Being an adult is nothing to fear- it is something to truly embrace! A person gains their freedom when they graduate, and can leave the stress of school, of dramatic situations, and lousy jobs, behind.

I have finally left a job that I have disliked for a numerous amount of years. I have dropped supposed "friends" from my life who have not been supportive. I am going to be selfish and live for me. Going across that stage will be like freeing myself from the chains of constriction. I have enjoyed my journey through college by making friends and learning a thing or two along the way, but it is time for me to move on and start my life away from all the negativity and also from papers, presentations, and speeches.

I will embrace life with a smile and my head held up high. I am an adult, and I am not afraid.