The moment you’ve been waiting for is finally here. Your name is called, and all you can focus on is not tripping on stage. You take your diploma, smile for pictures, doing so in a haze. This is the moment you waited for your entire life. You finally did it. You graduated.
What they don’t tell you about graduating is how scary it is. You’re expected to be an adult. You’re expected to pay your own bills. You’re expected to have your life together. Chances are if you’re reading this, this is not the case. That’s why I’m here. If there is one thing that I have learned in the last year or so it’s that it is okay to not have life together. When you graduate college, chances are you’re not going to have your dream job or a job altogether for that matter. You’re probably not going to be engaged to the love of your life. You might not live where you want to live. This might be a bit daunting. We live in a world where we are constantly seeing a new marriage or pregnancy announcement every time we sign into Facebook. Quite frankly, it’s like the plague. It makes us wonder why we’re not accomplishing those same things in life. It makes us wonder if we’re really behind if we’re not good enough for those things.
This is our generation’s biggest flaw. It’s time we stop comparing ourselves to others. We don’t know the truth behind those Facebook posts we see. Maybe your middle school best friend did score a really good internship, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy. Maybe the popular jock from high school just signed to a big major league team. That does not mean your accomplishments are any less impressive than theirs. I think how big of an accomplishment graduating college is. There are so many people in the world who will never get to experience the feeling of having all of their hard work pay off in the end. There are so many people in the world who drop out or simply cannot afford to attend college. Whether you’re the first in your family or you belong to a family of graduates, you’re accomplishing big things.
I challenge you to keep this in mind whenever you’re having a rough time. You have that college degree that you worked for years for. Whether you get your ideal job right away or you’re stuck working at a minimum wage paying job for a bit in order to support yourself, you should remain proud of yourself. We all go through hard times. If life came easy, where would the fun be? We pushed ourselves to finish school and now that we’re done, we’re nowhere near done pushing ourselves in life. Push for that job that you want. You’re probably going to get a few rejection emails. You’re probably going to feel stressed about finances. You’re probably going to want to give up but I challenge you to keep pushing. Life always has a way of working out. We worked hard to finish school and with that same dedication, we can all make an amazing life for ourselves. Keep your head up high and keep trucking on, no matter what.
