October 5, 2015

Life After College

Life After College
1. You’ll miss learning. As much as you despised college classes at the time, you’ll feel a void without them. You’ll crave learning and will realize what a truly curious creature you are. You will likely fill this void with DIYs and umpteen hours of beauty vlogs, but you’ll miss the days of getting lost in research and sharing (and defending) your opinions with classmates.

2. You will feel pressured to take the "next step" in your life. If you graduated, people will expect you to continue on with your higher education. If you're dating, they'll expect an engagement. If you're married, they'll want babies. And if you've got little ones, you'll need a house. I don't know if people are living vicariously through you or if they just want you to be socially accepted. Regardless, all of the freedom and comfort you felt in college just being yourself gets drained by people in the "real" world.

3. You'll still rely on your parents when it comes to your finances. Landing a real job and receiving probably the largest paycheck yet is well and good, but money will still be a burden. Because taxes, rent, food, and fun are not cheap. Plus you'll be expected to start your retirement fund and encouraged to invest early, so yeah. You're basically breaking even and will need to call mom and dad at least once when you're financially strapped. Tears will ensue. You’ll feel like a failure, but asking for help and taking initiative is actually the adult thing to do.

4.You'll struggle to make friends. Especially if you move away. You'll meet people, sure. But it's harder for those people to become friends when you don't see each other every day. And since you’re short on cash, social events are fewer and far between. But don’t give up. You will find your tribe. It may be small, but you’ll appreciate these friendships because they happened organically and on your own terms.

5. You will feel like a complete idiot at least once. Probably more frequently, but there will be a few notable moments. Like getting pulled over and proudly handing over your proof of insurance only to find out it’s actually a 24/7 driver assistance card. But then you’ll cry and the officer will let you off the hook this time, and you’ll appreciate feeling like a child again.

6. You will miss your family and your sense of home. Unless you move into a house, apartment life will kind of feel like a long-term vacation. You’ll miss what houses have to offer, especially the one with your family in it. Space, natural light, backyards. These will be a luxury. Add a home-cooked meal at an actual dining table (instead of sitting on the floor of your Ikea coffee table) and game over.

7. You can’t hang like you used to. Your idea of a crazy night is hitting it hard at happy hour (two Boulevards, please) and heading home to Netflix with a nice buzz. You’ll then complain about how hung over you are…three days later.

8. You’ll pay attention to the hands of the people you’re attracted to. Because wedding rings are more common than they were in college.

9. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll freakout and you’ll question everything. Welcome to your 20s, where some of the best, worst, and weirdest moments will happen. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, so buckle up. It’s about to get wild.

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