I remember the first time I said:
"Yes, I'm moving out of state after graduating college." I bet you thought I was going a different direction with that. Gotcha!
I was more shocked hearing the words blurted out of my mouth than the person hearing them. It was like I admitted to a dream that I knew my guard would never let me fulfill. Basically, I was signing a contract that included throwing myself into a new place without knowing a single soul, or potentially moving to a new place without a job. It was everything I thought I wasn't; adventurous, spontaneous; purposefully uncomfortable.
But that's what I am ready for and maybe you are too.
College instills a dose of confidence that opens our eyes to understanding that we can bloom anywhere. Literally, anywhere if we put our fears on the back burner. I think the main reason people steer away from moving after graduating college is that it's too much change in a short period of time.
For example, what if you move to a place you aren't extremely fond of? And then your job isn't what you thought it would be? Or your co-workers aren't anything like the friends you had in college?
But what about the people you met in your major? Sitting next to you in the same uncomfortable desk that made sitting on rocks more desirable. Or even watching you fall asleep when the lecture dragged on. Just like those in your class, most companies have employees that are completely alike and utterly different.
And guess what? You survived sitting in a class with students who raised their hands every five seconds to answer the professor's question, so I know you'll be just fine in any office. The difficult part is being in a space with highly competitive coworkers when you enjoy simplistic positivity in the workplace. After graduating college, it is important to throw yourself into a place where you can grow, not plateau.
Remember signing up for classes for the very first time and spending more time on RateMyProfessor than the actual registration site? Every professor had a load of ratings, some good and some bad. The scariest scenario was being stuck with a professor who made the semester feel like running four IronMan's back to back. But guess what? You survived...the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Was college easy? No. You threw yourself into something new, uncomfortable, and, at most times, challenging. And still, you survived. So, what's so different about creating a life for yourself away from everything that is familiar? Wasn't college unfamiliar at one time?
All in all, look how far you've overcome a number of obstacles. You might not consider yourself a pro at jumping through hoops or even dodging life's hardest situations, but you're here, surviving one day at a time.
So what is your next adventure? Where have you always wanted to move, but every fiber in your body was reminding you how scary it would be?
What if you made a list of all the reasons to move and what's holding you back? Which list would be longer?
