Hey guys and gals!

I'm back with my first post since graduation.  It's been a strange month of trying to decide how and where I want to start my career, wanting to relax, stressing about student loans, and trying to unpack all of the junk I've accumulated in the last four years (there's A LOT!). The struggle has been enhanced by the lack of a laptop in my life. My laptop took it's last breath this past spring during my last semester.

Today, I wanted to share exactly what it feels like to be a college graduate and my advice about how to handle it. I wanted to write this because so many times we get two opposing examples of the students who had a job lined up and the students who have no plan and no idea what they want to do with their lives. I'm not quite taking a year off to travel the world, but I have a plan. 

In front of Stephen's Hall at Towson

1. The graduation hype died down quickly. Immediately following my graduation, I was super excited. I had my cookout and celebrated with my family and friends. It was awesome. 

After that, life mellowed out drastically. I got a few more cards in the mail and I watched a ton of Netflix. By the second week, I was sleeping until 11 and 12 in the afternoon and feeling lazy. I hated it. 

My advice: Never let yourself get to the point where you don't feel like getting out of bed. Make checklists that will motivate you, make plans with friends, and go to some networking or career training events. Get out of the house and do something.

2. You say thank you and billion times and mean it. People and family that I barely knew or hadn't spoken to in years were continuously saying, "Congratulations!" It's a similar moment to people singing happy birthday to you and there's nothing you can do but sit there and smile. So, that's what I did; smiled and said thank you. 

The awesome part about it is even if it's a social norm to congratulate a graduate, I never felt that people were being insincere with their well wishes. It was amazing to see how my success made people excited. My mom's co-workers, whom I had never met, were happy to give me advice and wish me luck. 

My advice: Use that positive energy as a motivator. In the back of your head always remind yourself that there are people who care about your success. 

3. Have discipline. Yes, it's fun to go out and stay up late. The downside is when you need to get up the next day and be productive. It's been a pain for me because I have fallen into the habit of staying up late and then trying to be productive the next day. Announcement people, it's ten times harder to motivate yourself when it hits mid afternoon. 

When you wake up in the afternoon you've already missed half of the day. Breakfast at McDonald's is over, all of the big headlines have been discussed and have been trending on Twitter for hours, and most people are ready for the day to be over. 

Courtesy of Flickr user Phalinn Ooi

My advice: Employed or unemployed, keep yourself on some kind of schedule. Working an internship only a set number of days a week? Those are obviously your early days. But, on your off days sleep in. 

No job yet? Still get up early. No, you don't have to be up at the crack of dawn but try to be up by at least 9:30 or even 10:00 am. This gives you some time to get up, eat breakfast, and be alert before noon.

Post grad life doesn't have to be scary or boring. You're in control!

That's all till next time.


Kira Elise