Finding Freedom In Your Post Grad Pit

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to go.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where--“

Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

The emotions experienced on Graduation Day are different for everyone. One thing rings true for all graduates once the tassels are turned: you begin to enter a chapter in your life full of confusion, loneliness, and frustration. I can tell you from experience, I thought I’d be that one individual to break through the infamous “post grad slump.” I failed. Miserably.

When I was a brand spankin’ new graduate, I felt emotions I never wished I would have felt. As I reminisce, the cards that were dealt to me post graduation were ones I initially couldn’t stand. Looking back, I’m glad I got them. Turns out, God’s the best card dealer I could ask for. Go fish.

A couple ways I felt and you also may be feeling:

1.) Why is it taking so long to find a job?

2.) I can’t stop comparing myself to other people.

3.) Where do I find friends?

4.) My friends that are still in college have no idea how I feel.

If I could go back and redo anything, it would be to actually enjoy my time of freedom. It’s ironic because post grad life is truly freedom, but we’re too busy being distraught and worried to realize that. We get so depressed and frustrated that our plans don’t align exactly how we pictured them. Socrates nails it, “What screws us up most in life is the picture in our head of how we think it’s supposed to be.”

Embrace the fact that your only obligation is yourself. Embrace that you don’t have to wake up early every day and head to the office just yet. Embrace that you can literally do anything, travel anywhere, and be anyone you want to be. Relax. It doesn’t matter which way you go, as long as you enjoy it.

Victoria Tropiano

#lifestyle #postgrad