As I started this semester last month, I realized that I was getting closer and closer to graduating college which was crazy to me. I feel like I just graduated high school a few months ago and I’m starting as a freshman. Time moves so fast that I can’t seem to keep up with it. The older I get, the faster time goes. I’m 21 going on 22 in like four months. Realizing that I’m getting older and that I’ll be graduating soon is a scary thought. I’ve gone to school for the majority of my life and I don’t know any other life. I remember being younger and thinking I can’t wait to graduate high school, be 18, then go to college and get a great job. Now, here I am towards the end of my undergraduate studies preparing to enter into the workforce. Then I think to myself, am I ready for real world out there? Am I going to get a good job to support myself? There are a lot of thoughts going on in my head about what the next step in my life will be.

As a kid, life seemed so much simpler as an adult, but now all I want to do is be a kid again enjoying the simple things in life. Honestly, life is not easy whatsoever and confusing. If you really want something you have to work hard to get it, nobody is going to hand it to you. At the same time, I wonder if I’m ready to settle into a 9-5 office job for many years. When I think about it, I don’t exactly picture myself at that stage of my life yet. I want to do so much more before settling down in life. I feel like there is so much more than working. I want to travel and explore the world. I want to meet people and go on adventures. I want to find myself and my purpose in life. There is so much out there to see in the world and I know that if I don’t do this now, I won’t be able to do it later. Some people think that graduating college means that you signed a contract to join the workforce immediately (unless you did, then good luck in that job), when in reality it means that you've accomplished another milestone in your life.

Society expects you to go to school, graduate, and work for the rest of your life. Well, guess what? I don’t want to do that. Why should I have to care what society expects of me anyways? I choose to make my own path in life. It’s true what they say, graduation is just the beginning of your life because it is. You could go off to graduate school, to work, travel, or whatever you decide. You are the decision-maker in your life. You don’t know where life is going to take you anyways. You could study finance and end up being a writer. Just because you studied for one career doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up working in that career. Life has its many twists and turns. As you get older, you become more mature and change as you learn more about life. You may start to have interest in other things and change your whole environment. Life is completely unpredictable which is what makes it exciting sometimes.

People always tell me to enjoy life while I’m young, but at the same time I feel limited. You’re expected to have fun with so much pressure from society’s expectations of life which is why I’ve decided to take that advice seriously. I’m going to start enjoying myself and do what I like to do. I want to become confident and secure in who I am. I want to be able to tell myself that this is what I want in life and go after it. It’s also okay to not know what you want and go search for it elsewhere. Not everyone will know what to do with their lives because life is a journey that can go in any direction. Going out there in the real world is scary especially by yourself, but it’s something everybody has to do whether we like it or not. There are no marked paths of where you are meant to go. You're the one that’s supposed to leave those footprints wherever you go. Just make sure it's all worth it.