Last month, I accomplished one of the biggest goals that I had set for myself: I graduated college. Graduating college has taught me a few things that were unexpected.
I have learned since graduation that your college years really are the best years of your life. As a student, I had to pay my own way through college, which meant working two and sometimes three jobs while attending classes as a full-time student, so I do not mean this in a partying sense.
During my college career, I met some of the greatest friends and mentors in my life. I will always cherish the moments of advice and guidance that my professors provided me. These people were my family during the five years I spent at SWOSU, and I no longer see them daily, which has been a huge change in my life. This change has taught me that college was a time of growing and meeting friends that will last a lifetime.
During college, everyone told me it would be easier after graduation, that life would be less stressful. I have learned that this is not necessarily true. Since graduation, life has been nothing but struggles for me and my husband. We moved from Oklahoma to Dallas and both were on the hunt for jobs, which by the way is very stressful. Life after college isn't better than life in college, but it is a different chapter of life that teaches you and makes you into a different person. Being out of college has taught me that life is difficult, but I must keep enduring and stay positive.
The most important lesson that I have learned post graduation is that whether I'm in school or not, life continues to go on. While I was in college, it felt never ending, as if I would never be done with my degree. Then, it was my senior year and I have anxiety about life after graduation. I cannot tell your how many freak outs I had over what I would do after graduating. I didn't want to graduate; college was my comfort zone and I had professors and friends that I became really close to. However, the reality is that life goes on and I couldn't stay in school forever. I am grateful for the five years I spent at SWOSU, and I know that I am the person I am today because of SWOSU.
