Life After College: Preparing for The 'Real' World

As graduation slowly approaches and I stand just over three weeks away from the big day, I cannot help but to feel a range of emotions. Should I be happy? Should I be excited? Should I have anticipation for what lies ahead? The best question of all, should I be scared? Am I scared? I think the true way to phrase this question would be to ask myself why I am scared and more importantly, what am I scared of?

It is so easy to get caught up in fear and negative emotions to the point that we forget to take the time to be happy. Graduation is much more than just a ceremony, rather a new beginning. Even in assessing the name a graduation ceremony is commonly referred to as - a commencement - this word in of itself holds weight to the purpose of the event. By definition, a commencement marks the beginning or start of. I believe this ever so simple definition is the answer to my fear and unfortunately, the cause of it.

The idea of a new beginning in of itself implies the ending of something else. Though it may seem like it is just the end of a college career, it is the ending to the last pages of this book of a journey called college. When you look at the presented terms and their set definitions, they all come together and just spell change.

Though change is perceived to be a good thing, change is the very thing that requires you to do something different. This does not mean that your current way of doing things is inadequate, rather that the next level will require more of you.

As I embark on this new journey, I continually remind myself of how far I have come and just how much farther I still have yet to go. Fear can be a driving force to avoid change; however, to avoid change is a means of allowing fear to be the basis for one's actions. Instead of fearing driving one to avoid change, allow change to be the motivation to drive out fear.