One thing that no one in your life can prepare you for is what life is like after college. You think it's the absolute worst thing in the world when you're sitting there during your final semester at university. It's unfathomable that anyone would graduate and do anything else besides go to school everyday because that's what the education system has taught us to do. Growing up, you spend most of your life in school and then you are spit back up into the real world and are expected to know what to do with yourself. It's not as bad as your mind makes it out to be, but it's still scary, weird and unknown.

I set foot on my college campus for the first time since graduation the following semester of my graduation. It was different. It was weird. It wasn't like you would expect it to feel like because it's just the semester after you graduate, how different could it feel? I was so wrong. It felt like I had been gone for two years. There was a new sign in front of the arts buildings and new banners above the theatre. The lobby and halls that felt bustling with life in the theatre wing when I had attended school felt empty and cold. No one was there. The callboard hallway had life, which made me happy, but it just felt so different. I looked at a list of students signed up for technical theatre positions and knew four names. As much as I hate to admit it, my life was a Taylor Swift song in that moment: "Everything Has Changed".

But here's the hard truth that I'm still trying to learn everyday: change is evident. The unknown is something you're going to have to grapple with everyday, whether you're in school or not. It's something that is that much harder once you're not in school because there is no routine, there is no one checking up on you all the time, you are responsible for yourself in that vulnerable moment post graduation. You either stare the unknown in the face and say that you can do it or hide away until you're comfortable enough to deal with it.

Whatever you choose, know that it's not the end once you're out of school. The world is waiting, get out there and explore.