What are the first two months after graduation really like?
One month after graduating college, I'm reflecting on the reality of post-grad life, job searching, identity, and the unexpected emotions that come with starting adulthood.
Through conversations with friends who are all in different stages of life, I have discovered a lot about myself as I have been navigating this post-grad world. I have friends in Texas, North Carolina, at home with their parents, and some who have moved out by themselves.
We all came from a school that breeds nothing but greatness. High pressure extra-curriculars, Chancellor's list only, and attendees at professional conferences almost every month. Stress was a word we heard often, but solemnly had time to feel.
As I have been walking through these past 2 months of post-grad, I am realizing that stress isn’t the word I would use to describe the feeling sitting in my chest. Because through pressure testing and all four years of undergrad, stress was not something I had time to sit with.
But I am feeling overwhelmed.
Everyone has a list of reasons that they love their alma mater. Either the experiences it gave you both professionally and personally, the sense of structure it provided while navigating class and work schedules, or the community you built that held you up through it all.
For me, it truly is all of the above. And the not-so-fun thing to know about post-grad is that you really do lose that once you step into adulthood. You don't lose it completely, though; it's still there, it just looks different, and that is where a lot of people, including myself, start to feel overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed by the need to find that community again, to feel as involved and active as you were on campus, but to focus on bettering yourself so that your peers know that college wasn't your final resting place. All on top of trying to figure out your next steps professionally.
Many of my friends graduated with full-time offers lined up, a few were weighing their options, and a couple of others knew that going home and resting was their top priority. But this conversation isn't about working after post-grad, because that could be a book within itself.
This conversation is about feeling the need to have it all figured out so quickly.
People take years to step fully into themselves once they graduate. A lot of people feel a sense of loneliness that they haven't felt in years after graduation, and others take long periods of rest before getting back to it.
I know that there is no set path, and while many people say that, I can't yet wrap my head around why it is so hard to believe it and to feel it.
The feeling of being overwhelmed comes from the belief that the life you created in college, in four years, needs to immediately be the life you live once you are done. But what was so special about those four years was that it took time to build. It took intention, grace, and curiosity before you created the life you loved. Why not give yourself the same opportunity post-grad?
As I hit the second month of being out of college and living in the "real world," I want to focus on giving myself the grace, the time, and the space to create the life I love. You should too.
