That time of year is fast approaching. For every senior in university, it’s the time of unanswered questions of ‘what are you doing after you graduate?’ or ’where do you want to go with your degree?’ The myriad of inquiries that you are pummeled with in any social setting, asked enough times, can induce anyone into an immediate anxiety attack.
On any social media site these days, you will find endless articles of individuals in their late 20’s or early 30’s offering advice to their earlier selves or heeding the new generation to listen to what they should have told themselves 10 years earlier. Thought Catalog, Elite Daily, Pinterest and other sites used for procrastination have all been saying the same thing: this is the time to seize every opportunity, network wherever you are with whoever is around you, never again will you be this young and have so much free time, you’re running out of time. Statements that continuously pop up on your screen that are able to send a person immediately to their couch, wrapped up in a blanket with a tub of ice cream contemplating what their next move will be.
I can firmly say that this has happened to me not once, but multiple times. The constant questioning from others forces these questions into my own mind at all hours of the day. Have I been doing enough in my university career to set myself apart from the rest of the graduating class? Is my resume comprehensive enough? Have I worked and/or volunteered enough to gain enough skills to seem attractive enough to be hired? Will I ever do enough to be satisfied by my own accomplishments? The list can go on and on. The questions we are plagued with as soon-to-be-graduates becomes a vortex, leaving you feeling numb and questioning everything you’ve done until this point in time.
Why have we become so obsessed with worrying about the future? In part it is because we live in a world where the media has created this idyllic image that once you graduate from university or college, you will immediately find a job. It’s safe to say that hardly anybody lands their dream job right after graduation. So what are we to do?
I recently finished reading Marina Keegan’s The Opposite of Loneliness, a compilation of fiction and non-fiction essays. Keegan, at age 22, tragically passed away in a car accident after her Yale graduation. The Opposite of Loneliness was published in the Yale Daily News as an essay for her graduating class.
Despite the vast differences that were immediately flagged when reading her essay, predominately the fact that Keegan had just graduated magna cum laude from an Ivy League American university, her feelings echoed mine to a tee. We spend 4 plus years in a community, a haven that often shelters you from the outside world. But as graduation approaches, you inevitably have to start thinking of entering this adult world, a notion that often seems so far- fetched. The thing we often forget and what Keegan reiterates in her essay is that “We’re so young. We’re so young.” Anything can be within our reach, whatever you want to do in life you still have time to do. Once you graduate, it doesn’t mean you have to find a 9-5 job right away or settle down and start saving for your retirement. Life is there to be lived, as cliché as that sounds.
“What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over.” There are boundless possibilities for the future. If you’re one of those individuals who already has a five year plan in mind, or who knows exactly the professional path you want to pursue, more power to you. But to the majority who are just as clueless as I am, there is time. Time to figure out what you truly want to do in life. Time to find what or who makes you happy. Time to pursue those interests that you thought were trivial. Time to get another degree if you want.
My solution for the future and advice for the graduating class of 2015: to start to plan but also not stress out if something doesn’t work out right away. And be present; don’t forget about the people around you at the moment as you’re worrying about the future, just be in the moment. Everything has a way of working out.
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