For roughly the first 22 years of a person’s existence, their life is planned out for them. It begins at the age of 3 when children are placed into preschool to start learning their colors and numbers. At age 5, Kindergarten starts with mathematics and reading. Between the ages of 6 and 11 children are taught science, history, literature, and math in elementary school. Then jr. high throws children into awkward adolescence at the ages of 12 to 14. The daunting world of high school begins at 15 and continues until 18 year olds are expected to excel and begin planning the rest of their lives. From 19 to 22 years old there is somewhat more freedom for individuals to choose their own paths, but in the 21st century, college is assumed, expected, and necessary to build a successful and stable career and life.
But then comes the next stage: post college graduation.
After two decades of being told what to do, what to think, and where to go, life is now wide open. Expectation may still be existent, but obligation is no longer there. This phase comes with a sense of freedom as the world is awaiting these young adults’ embrace. But along with this liberty is the expectation of self-sufficiency and self-understanding. Young 20-something year olds are assumed to know who they are, what they want to do and be, and how to get there.
But that isn’t always how life works.
There is confusion, anticipation, hope, fear, indecision, and integration. Because school can only teach you so much, there is so much more in life to learn-to experience. I graduated at 22 years old with the world at my fingertips, but no idea what I want to pursue. No idea where my passion lies.
I am learning that it’s okay not to know.
I remember being in jr. high and being deathly scared of the idea of college. As it came closer, it still appeared daunting, but with one step at a time, I made it through. Now I sit here and ponder what my life may look like in 5 years. It’s exciting, but I am deathly scared because it is unknown.
Post college graduation: the phase of the unknown.
For some, life just slides into place, but for the rest of us, it takes time, experience, energy, fear, and hope to begin molding this next phase of our lives. It is unknown, and that is the scariest part, but also the most exciting. I am learning to love the moments.
Learn to love the bits of knowledge you pick up down the road of the unknown.
Life is about learning. It is about growing. And it is about the journey. It is about enjoying the small things. Because pretty soon life will be closer to over than beginning and the phases of life will seem so short apart from all the things we have learned along the way. So while post college graduation may seem like an unstable and unpredictable phase in life, it will pass, and so much will have been learned.
We started from the bottom, and now we are here.
