“The place where the impossible and the possible meet. Nothing and everything is possimpible.” – Barney Stinston
For the majority of my short life, I’ve always assumed it would go one way. My life was like a set of directions on how to arrive at the final destination. Turn right at high school. Make a left and attend college. Continue straight after graduation into your first job. In approximately 3 years, make a slight left at the promotion. Make a stop at marriage. Exit at 32 when you have a baby.
By now, I hope you get the metaphor.
As of now, that plan came to a crashing halt. Luckily the only damage incurred was the loss of that damn roadmap for my life. Now I have no destination and no directions and it’s okay. I understand that ‘real life’ doesn’t have to immediately begin as soon as a graduate. There are more opportunities for work than just that one perfect job. But most of all, I’ve realized there’s time.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can take you there.”
My life now looks like one long, open road. I’m not sure where I’ll turn or where I’ll make a pit stop, but that’s okay because now is the time to explore. I watch my friends who are graduating in December stress ands struggle, throwing every fiber of their being into finding a job after graduation, fighting to plan every detail of their lives, and I feel anxious for them. Anything and everything will happen during our lifetime, whether we realize it or not right now. Why are so many young adults having a quarter-life crisis and getting burned out at 30 in demanding jobs they hate? Take a beat. Evaluate the possibilities, because once you actually take a look they are truly endless.
And whether this next part interests you or not, here are some of the paths I’m considering post-grad:
- Teach for America
- Grad School for either Religious Studies or Education
- Seminary School for Inter-religious Studies
- Copywriter at an advertising agency
- Taking a year to figure it all out
- Traveling
I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how things pan out this year. After all, it’s only October.
Briana Wucinski 
Any of those possibilities seem glorious. I’m the only one, of my college roommates, who was terrified to not have some set idea of life after graduation. They all had definite plans, and those plans, for the most part, got shaken up. I somehow landed a job, and I am blessed, so blessed, for that. But there are definitely a lot of people our age wondering if their not having it figured out is some sort of defeat. It isn’t. I think we’ve got a bajillion possibilities and too little time spent considering each one, sometimes, unless we’ve decided one thing a long time ago and it’s just that or nothing, you know? I’m glad you’re not stressed. It’s only October. SO much happens between October and May. At least, it did for people I know – and that’s meant to be encouraging (so I hope it is). Good luck.
Thank you! That is encouraging to hear! I like how you compared it to a defeat, because so many people see it as such. I still believe in the age-old phrase, “When one door closes, another one opens.” and hopefully I’ll still believe that even if none of my possibilities work out.