College has recently resumed once again all around the country and reality has begun to set in. For the first time in 14 years, myself and thousands of other recent college graduates will not be returning this year. We don’t get to be excited about new courses, go back to school shopping or pick out that first day outfit (call me a dork, but I continued this throughout college). Sorority and fraternity men and women won’t get to participate in spirit week, nor go through the recruitment experience that helps guide young individuals to their future home away from home. We won’t get to meet new people and new professors or develop our weekly routine that guided us consistently through the good and the bad of our entire experience.
I will be blatantly honest….I’m pretty devastated. Where did the time go? Have I really finished some of the best years of my life already? Do I really have to get up knowing that I am officially an adult at this point? That working will now be my main focus and priority in my life? The answer to most of these is yes. It made my heart stop for a moment the first time I came to this realization, but then I remembered something. No one gets to stay stuck in those years for forever. We will all eventually have to make this giant transition in our lives.
We will struggle to pay rent. We will open our refrigerators and realize that we haven’t bought groceries in weeks. We will go out and spend an entire paycheck at a bar in one night. We will have to learn how to pay taxes, set up insurance and begin to understand how the government’s policies truly affect us now and later on in life. Overall, this time is all about us.
We will constantly be looking around for someone who is an older adult. Someone who is or will be better at "adulting" than we are. But the key to success is realizing that you must take your time "adulting" the way that you believe is right. Follow no one’s pace, and no one else’s path. The only way that you are going to fail is by abstaining from living the life that is all around you. One of my favorite quotes that I have come across says it all: “Being an adult is like folding a fitted sheet: no one knows how”.
Not knowing how to go about living this new chapter in our lives is scary. I can tell you right now that I'm scared to death, but that in the end I know things will fall into place. We're all so sick of hearing "Oh, but you're so young, you have time to figure things out"...OK but what about all the individuals out there that are our age and are already seven steps ahead of us? To be honest, who cares that doesn't apply to you nor should you let it affect you. If it's not your time right now, it will be here soon enough. Don't rush into a job or run after a company that you don't love. Don't force yourself to do work that doesn't get you excited. You don't want to be looking back ten years from now sitting at a company or in a position that you decided to settle for and wish you would have waited for something that you truly felt passionate about. Now I'm not saying sit at home and wait for the job to come to you, because no, that's not how this works. You have to take the plunge and put yourself and your abilities, whatever they may be, out there for the world to see.
Being patient for something big to come around but also finding the strength to keep working your butt off in the meantime is what makes a hard worker. It is what keeps you striving for more and more, no matter how hard it may seem at the moment and someone will eventually notice. Keep your chin up, believe in yourself and use the love and support from those around you to get where you want to be in life. And in the end, these are our twenties...don't forget to have some fun while you're at it.
