A Recent Graduate’s Tips to Help Cope with Graduating College

The excitement of graduation has worn off, the money all of your relatives gave you for graduation is gone, and you might not be living down the street from your best friends anymore. Graduating college is a very big mile stone in any young person’s life, so why is graduating so hard? For some people, this may be the easiest thing you’ve ever done, but for other graduates, such as myself, this time is filled with anxiety about the future, finding a job, and learning a whole new routine of no longer being in school.  This is a new chapter in your life, and sometimes it may be hard to cope with, and you may feel as if you are drowning in the world of “adulting”. Finding a job feels close to impossible, and you may feel the stress of paying your rent for the first time in your life. It’s important to stay positive, and know that this should be looked at as an exciting time in your life.

Recent graduate Claire Hay says, “It’s okay to not start your career the second after you graduate or have a plan, it’s okay to feel rejected and discouraged. The important thing is to always stay positive and look forward to what’s next because you never know what’s around the corner, it may even be better than what you expected.”

One thing that recent graduates need to realize, is that you most likely will not be working your dream job right out of college; it’s just not realistic. You have to think of your first job as a building block, if it’s something you don’t want to do forever. Every single experience is something that will lead you to your next step, until finally you are where you want to be.

Another recent graduate Riley Everett says, “I think I’ve just learned to take my time and not rush things. There is no need to rush yourself into something you aren’t going to be happy with. Take your time and let all the pieces fall into place and you will ultimately be happier.”

As a recent graduate, you may feel as if everyone else has this huge life plan and knows exactly what they want out of life. In reality, everyone is struggling. This is the most important thing to remember, is that you are not alone in the confusion. No one wants to wake up at 5:30am to be in traffic for an hour, to be at work by 8am. It’s a part of the experience that will lead everyone to the job they want to be at. We may not be able to roll out of bed at 10am anymore while wearing our sweats to class, but we no longer have to write 25 page papers and the all nighters are finally over (hopefully).

Every recent graduate needs to know that every single person goes through this chapter of entering adulthood. We work the jobs that no one else wants, or we end up in a career path we never thought we would go down. The best part of being able to “adult”, is fulfilling the passions that we studied so many years for, and to finally being able to say, “I’m working my dream job”, and that is what we should strive for.

This is the first time in your life that you don’t have everything laid out in front of you. Maybe you want to travel, move to the other side of the country, or maybe you’re excited to move home with your parents so you don’t have to pay rent. Everyone is figuring out their own path to get to where they want to go, so enjoy this time because one day you’ll look back and be amazed at how far you’ve come.