A Letter to 2016 Graduates (From a 2015 Grad)

I graduated college exactly a year ago, which is kind of mind-blowing. Sometimes I feel like I was still in school just a few months ago. And okay, maybe that has something to do with the fact that I now work at the exact same college I graduated in. But it still seems like almost no time has passed.

You know, people treat graduating as a huge celebration, and rightly so. But they don’t always mention how much anxiety it can also bring as you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life. You're walking the line between a clear schedule of classes and studying, to a wide open space of, well, anything.

I’ve walked that line a lot in the past year, and I’ve learned quite a few things from it. So to all you 2016 grads, here’s a few things you should realize as you walk that stage in the coming days.

Comparison is Overrated.

It’s almost instinctive to compare ourselves to those around us, especially during a big transition like graduation. I know I couldn’t help but notice my peers getting into graduate schools or landing great jobs last May. And yet deep down I knew those things weren’t for me (at least not yet). I’ve learned to think about it this way: if you took the same path that someone else around you did, you’d end up exactly where they will. And people are too different, have too many different talents and purposes and aspirations, to all end up in the same place. Trust that your journey is taking you to where you’re meant to be. And that it’ll be perfect. For you.

The Grass is Green Where You Are.

When I was only working retail part-time last year, part of me felt restless. I knew that God had told me to wait for some reason, that He wanted me to focus on something besides my next career move for a season. But part of me still felt like I was wasting time, like I should be doing something more “important.” But you know, it was in that season that I picked up writing seriously again. It was in that season that I got to grow my blog, just for fun. I’ve come to see all the free time I had then as such a blessing, because I know it’s a rare thing in today’s world. Whatever place you find yourself as you graduate, I bet there’s a special opportunity in it that you might miss if you only focus on the negative. Find it, and enjoy it.

Time is on Your Side.

I used to think people who went on about how those of us in our twenties are still so young just didn’t understand the pressure on modern twenty-somethings. But now that I’ve been out of college for a year and dipped my toes into the reality of work life, I get it. We are young. We have decades ahead of us to acquire positions, build companies, pursue dreams. I’m not saying we shouldn’t go for those things now - of course we should. But I am saying that this pressure to always do more as if we were running out of time is sometimes too much. It’s okay to enjoy life on the way. If we don’t, we’ll just waste our lives chasing things, only to find we’ve spent our lives away.

#life #2016