Life moves at you fast, and nothing goes by faster than college. Four years (give or take) go by in the blink of an eye, and then you find yourself thrust into post-grad living. What do you do after the “best years of their lives” are over?
As someone that’s about a semester post-grad, here are some ways to stay positive after graduation:
1. Respark Old Passions
You can easily let hobbies fall by the way-side; you may put too much professional energy into them, otherwise. Rather than something you do for fun, you turn it into a club, and it no longer becomes a passion but something you’re the president of. Luckily, post-grad is an incredible time to pick back up hobbies that have fallen out of your routine.
You can also use this time to discover new hobbies if you never had ones you were super passionate about before. Some easy crafts to pick up, such as crocheting and knitting, have plenty of online video tutorials that let you teach yourself the craft.
Journaling is also an easy hobby and practically free. If you don’t want a physical journal, you can use something on your phone, like the Notes app.
If you do pick up a physical journal, you can get into junk journaling. This allows you to document your days spent in a creative, memorable way. Go to your local coffee shop and jot down whatever flows through your brain. You can also use the bottom of your coffee cup to stain your journal pages. This gives it an authentic splash of life.
2. Keep in Touch
While easier said than done, it’s important for your mental health to stay in touch with your friends. Nothing disperses friends quite like graduating, and even the friends that stay close get wrapped up in the hustle of working or post-grad job hunting.
Keep a good balance of social life to work life to truly enjoy living. Try to see local or medium distance friends twice a month, or more often if you’re lucky.
With technology and social media, it’s never been easier to keep in touch with long distance friends. Keep the DM’s flowing. That could even look like keeping up a TikTok streak or sending Instagram reels back and forth. I’m guilty of spamming my story on my secondary Instagram account. However, I like to think that it keeps all my friends updated on my life.
Nothing fills me with joy quite like seeing a story update from my long distance friends. It keeps me informed on their lives. And of course, if they’re good at answering texts, you can send your friend a message or call them. There are so many other ways to keep in touch with people, and you should take advantage of that.
3. Remember: “If it’s meant to be, then it will be.”
Quoting an old Ethel Cain lyric that I love, learn to accept what is. Job hunting can drain and render you hopeless at times. It seems that no matter what you accomplished during your college years, employers just don’t care and it all feels pointless.
However, what’s meant to find you will find you. Use the unemployment era to self-discover, and remember to take care of yourself in the meantime. The universe has mysterious ways of working, but you have to believe that it will all work out in the end. We have so much time to figure life out, regardless of the pressure we feel after graduating to “get it together.”
To keep your head above water and avoid getting caught up in the post-grad life changes, roll with the punches. Accept that what’s happening is meant to happen, and what’s destined to be yours will find you in due time.
Anyone who says that college is the best years of your life is unnecessarily scaring you about graduating and moving on. While I sometimes feel hopeless about post-grad life finding a “big girl job,” life has been on the up since my college days.
There’s so much awaiting you beyond those 4 years and so much life left to live. The ups and downs of the “real world” make life rich, so be excited for what life has in store for you.
Feature image by Evan Mach on Unsplash
