You have ordered your cap and gown, sent out the invitations and are now counting down the days. Graduating from a university can be one of the most fearful accomplishments in one’s life. It is the beginning of a lifetime of learning and self-improvement. However, once a diploma is received, what comes next?
Reminiscing to adolescent years, the real world sounded thrilling to say. Now, this once-fictional saying has become reality. The decisions made after graduating from college can be nerve-wracking. Whether it is finding a job or even starting a family, this is the point where everything you have done thus far will make or break you. No longer will refund checks, free transient transportation and meal plans automatically be included. Upon graduation, students will enter a new world that is completely unstructured.
College students have so often been told to pursue their dreams and that there are limitless possibilities to do so. The perception of being able to find yourself and then go off into the world is not as easy as it seems. There is no textbook that you can read, PowerPoint that you can view or notes from a close friend that can be copied. After everything that is taught in college, it merely scrapes the surface on what life really has to offer.
Even experiencing adversity can alter the way graduates live their lives. Say a close friend dies from a tragic car accident, a sibling is diagnosed with brain cancer and a job opportunity does not fit with the major one graduated with. All of these things could force graduates to alter their plans that were once written in stone.
Graduates are to be independent and open-minded. Not allowing complacency to take over what we have accomplished is the only way to achieve our dreams and aspirations. Even if there is no book on “How to Live Your Life After College Graduation: For Dummies,” there is still hope for the lost. Some college graduates may wake up and yearn for being a little kid again, but life is not over. You cannot find yourself unless you lose yourself first.