Category Archives: Balance

Life after College (Part 1)


         Life after college and the depression it brings has to be the truest thing ever said. Let’s be real, when you are in school you have no cares in the world. For some people that is, you have your parents/family taking care of you and a bunch of friends to turn up with. Bills paid, somewhere to rest your head, money when you need it, Sallie Mae not stalking you. You’re not thinking too far into the future and just living for the moment. Once senior year hits, you’re finally hit with reality. What is life after college going to be like? Should I go for another degree? What am I really doing with life?
For some people they have been living the “life after college” struggle while being in college. Some people don’t have the benefits of having parents/family members to help them thru anything. They have been working 2 or 3 jobs to pay tuition and keep food on the table. Some people do have parents/family members to help them but the funds aren’t there. So the hustle for a place in society actually begins while in college and for others right after. We hope that our internship provides us with an opportunity for a full time job, that we get something in our field by the time we graduate or that career services helps place us somewhere that can make us money. The reality of it all is that life after college is when you really become an adult and it sucks for most of us.
Some people are able to fall into their careers right out of college, while others face the struggle of trying to get in the door. One of the main reasons you won’t get hired is “that you don’t have enough experience,” but how will I get the experience if you don’t hire me? This is normally an excuse not to hire you instead of a legit reason. It makes sense doesn’t it? The first 6 months out of college, I applied everywhere and kept getting turned down because I was told that I didn’t have enough experience. My resume fits the position perfectly but I don’t have the proper experience to perform the job tasks. The life after college struggle is real and shouldn’t be ignored.
You also realize that your friend circle becomes smaller. You tend to surround yourself with like-minded people that want to grow or just random nobodies. The people that you use to turn up with, probably still turn up and aren’t doing anything. They might have just moved on from you and found a new group of people to hang out with. Life after college forces you to change into the person you will be for the rest of your life. You can always change that but college is literally the stepping stone into your adult life. The struggle can always set you up for something better, but nothing ever comes easy. Everything you do afterwards is another journey in your life.
 “Yesterday was disappointing and today isn’t better. Remember there’s always a tomorrow, so make it something to look forward to and smile”

Growth

I feel if you don’t grow you don’t learn. Growth is all apart life and if you are the same person you were last year then nothing has changed.  People always complain that nothing has changed or nothing new is happening but have you pushed yourself to move forward and change? Are you waiting for someone to push you to change? It’s all about setting your own goals and moving forward.
Personally I feel like I have grown a lot in the past year. I push myself to be better than the Kevin I was yesterday. With friendships, relationships, career and just everything in my life. You can’t remain stagnant and hope things fall into place. I’ve lost friends, made new friends, declined career opportunities and accepted others. They say to be patient and wait for things but you can only wait so long before you just have to continue moving forward and not look back. This concept applies to everything in your life. The thing about moving forward is that you want to move forward. You’re not letting anyone hold you back. When you have people holding you back, you won’t ever get anything accomplished. Year after year you have to grow as a person in every aspect of your life if you want to be great. 
A question I was asked recently was, “Why do you keep your friend circle so small?” My response was, “If your irrelevant and serve no purpose in my life, why should I keep you around?” You have to remind yourself not everyone is about growth and will hinder your growth if they aren’t growing. It applies to your career as well, if you are okay with your current position and feel you have reached your limit for growth then you won’t move. If you reached your limit and feel you need to keep pushing you will look outside your current workplace. Growth is a part of life, it’s up to you if you want to continue growing and moving forward with anything in your life. 
“Life is about moving on, accepting changes and looking forward to what makes you stronger and more complete”

Education. . .Career. . .Relationship

I have had a lot of conversations with different people on their views on these 3 topics. I brought up the idea you can only focus on 2 of these at a time and can’t have all 3. Not saying you can’t have all 3 but 2 of them will have your primary focus and the 3rd will kind of just be in the back of your mind. More so if it happens, you will go with the flow of it.

No matter what one of these will be on hold or you will not pay that much attention to. The reasoning for that is either A) you already have it established and don’t need to work on it and/or B) you are just winging it and whatever falls into your plate you will deal with. The 2 focuses that most people start off with are education and career, then they end off with career and relationship. Which makes sense but others always find their own paths in life. 
I know people who have maintained these 3 items but it was difficult. When it comes to each one of them the main thing that applies is time. Time to study, do homework, graduate. Time to search for a job, edit your resume, interview. Time to show someone you appreciate them, dinner dates, see them. Each one of them comes down to the time that you have. If you have the time you can make it for all of these things. It is your choice to determine what road you want to take and whatever makes you feel comfortable. 
Review the things in your life and ask yourself “Have I ever successfully had all 3 items at one time?”
“It’s your road and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.”