I remember being really sad when I first graduated high
school. Everything that I had known until that point in time was about to all
change. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. All my friends were leaving for
college and I thought I would have a hard time being as happy as I was young,
wild, and free with every one that I had known my whole life. As fast as a blink of an eye,
college came and gone. From my memory, my insecurities and worries about what
college was suppose to be like dissipated really fast. At the time, it felt like
eternity. College took me by a storm and it was great. Upon college graduation,
those worries came rushing in and my insecurities got the best of me again.
Now that I’m nearly four months into the real
world, working full-time, everything is starting to look a lot clearer. Opening
my eyes to everything, I do see that a lot of my friends are either still in
school, figuring out what they want to do and looking for a job, or working a
job they aren’t too proud of. Select few are happy with where they ended up but
for the most part, just from what I hear, everyone seems a little bit unhappy.
I hate it. I’ve been itching to write this post
to give everyone a little reassurance that whatever it is you are doing, it is
okay and from here things just get better. We put a lot of expectations on
ourselves and that is only going to bring us down. For the most part, our
parents are the ones that are fueling this mentality and I don’t blame them for
imposing what they know as the truth. I mean what else do we have to compare it
to?
The real truth is that every generation is different. This generation, we’re living in a piss poor economy and divorce rates are higher than ever. What that means is that it is okay that you’re having trouble finding a job. It is okay that you’re taking a little bit longer than expected to finish college. It is okay that you’re a girl turning 25 and still single. The more we force upon ourselves to be where we think we should be, the harder it is to attain these unrealistic goals.
Relieve yourself of all this pressure nonsense and take your time to do what you want to do. The longer you spend thinking about where you want to take your career, when you figure it out, everything will feel like second nature. Your days at work will go by much faster. The longer you spend looking for someone to settle down with, the less likely you’ll end up in the 50% of the unhappily divorced population.
Just keep in mind that every chapter of your life, there is always something new and great that will be offered. You just have to take your time to find your place and figure what it is that makes you happy. High school was amazing, college was amazing, and the rest of your life is going to be the same. Now with modern medicine, we all have a little bit more time too.
Before you know it, you'll be happily married, making six figures, and will have tons of vacation days racked up. Everything will make sense and you'll understand the full extent of your purpose in life. This is an ideal goal and very attainable. I promise you that once you get there, you'll wish you had more age 20-something days left to live. Just remember that we are also brought up in a generation where yolo is the motto. Don't forget it because you really only do live once.
