There are a lot of things I learned in college that I wish I would've been warned about. Post-graduate depression, for example, is a new term to me. Apparently, the issue itself is more common than I realized, but talking about it is not.

As an undergraduate student, I happily kept busy. I practically worked full time and took a full load every semester. I liked the fast pace, so my mom and I would often joke that I wouldn't know what to do with myself when once I graduated and had a "real job" to simply show up to every day.

Well between graduation and my now "real job," was a lot of unhappiness. Quite frankly, I'm still a little unhappy.

I know this period of life will be different for everyone, but I wanted to speak on my experience for anyone else who might have or still might be feeling the same way.

Upon graduation, I was SO excited to be done. I didn't care about the ceremony, I didn't care about the after-partying, I seriously just wanted to be d-o-n-e. And the first few weeks after graduation was nice! I kept up with my part-time retail job just to have some cushion before I found my first post-grad job, I scoured the web for local job postings, and I just enjoyed my freedom.

However, it didn't take long for me to get in my head and start overthinking about where my life was headed.

Everyone tells you things like "You're so young! You have your whole life ahead of you, so don't stress!" or "It'll all work out, you'll find a good job!" And although these sentiments will ultimately be true at some point, it's just not exactly what some people need to hear at that moment.

For example, after graduation, my mental health really suffered, (and still does from time to time) over the focus on feeling like I wasn't doing enough. I felt like I was never going to be doing what I wanted to and I was suddenly starting to compare my performance to even my friends who were still in school.

I think my trying to tell people how I felt often came out in whining about how bored I was in my "in the meantime" job- a full-time sales position I got two months after graduation- and I never went beyond feeling bored and dissatisfied.

What I really should've said was that I felt like a part of me had died. I felt like I had nowhere to go. I loved the hustle-and-bustle, irregular schedule I had for almost five years. I also love to learn, so I really enjoyed getting up just to listen to my professors teach me more about what I loved.

I'd been in school for 18 years and when that came to an end, it felt like the end of the identity I'd always known. I also knew what I liked and what I might want in a job, but I was nowhere close to being sure about it.

That always made me feel like I couldn't make a decision for fear I'd commit to something I really couldn't suffer through.

Where a lot of people feel the post-grad shift is becoming detached from the relationships they've built while on campus. Sometimes friends separate or take jobs all over the world.

You start to miss those classmates that you weren't super close to but that you spent a lot of time talking to and studying with. For me, I worked on campus almost the entire time I was in school, so letting go of that home-away-from-home and the strong ties I had there was really more of a downer than I realized it'd be.

And I think this is where we tend to overlook post-grad depression. We assume that students hate school and that they can't wait to be done and free. We think they have jobs lined up after graduation, know what they want, and that this new chapter is exciting.

Don't get me wrong, there is definitely excitement in possibility, but for those students who don't find jobs for three to six months after graduation, those who are lonely, or for those who still don't even know what they want, it's far from a fun time.

I wish I would've understood what was going on with me a little more so I could articulate it and have conversations that might have helped me more. Dealing with anxiety or depression and the crushing weight of comparison isn't fixed by the simple band-aid answers I was getting at the time.

So, if you feel at all like this is something you may be going through or you fear it's onset, don't be afraid to talk to someone who cares for you about what you're going through. Now you know what to call it.

Or, if it's getting to be too much, don't be embarrassed to get some counseling to help yourself cope for a while. Chances are, either of these deeper support systems is going to have something more comforting and empathetic to say instead of "You'll figure it out."