How to be a Graduate

As I sit here snacking on reheated Papa John’s garlic bread, trying not to get my laptop too covered in grease, I reflect on my time as a student, with my three years of uni now coming to an end.

So many people will be in the exact same boat as me right now: that weird in-between stage where all the questions in the world seem to be arising: what should I do with my life now? When do I have to start adulting? Is it still okay to eat 3 day old takeaway?

Whilst I decided to stay in my uni house until the end of the contract, many of my friends have moved home already, or moved on to bigger and better things: moving in with their other halfs, into non-uni accommodation and non-parents houses… so like proper proper adulting…

It is therefore a confusing and even a bit of a lonely time for many post-students, with life so different from before: truly the end of an era (I’m not crying, you’re crying…)

So this blog post aims to discuss how to move on, and to be honest, is more written for myself: a kind of bummed out post student.

1. The first thing to discuss is doing a masters- a few of my friends have taken this route of delaying life, or “furthering their studies with something useful to their career”. However for myself this would just mean going through the same depressing process a year later, so maybe not for me. Plus I’m really not feeling a 20,000 word dissertation. This route may be great for you though, if you do have a clue what you want to do in life, and if you do then pat on the back for you.

 

2. The next option is getting a job. Think about it- what do you want to do? In my personal case, fuck knows. And it’s the same thing for loads of people. My dad, aged 43 still says he doesn’t know what he wants to do when he grows up. So get a temp job, work in a bar, figure your shit out. Just don’t do what my dad did and stay in the ‘temp’ job for 20 years (well you can do- you might like it, turns out my dad likes his job so who knows TBH).

 

3. Get a hobby. I don’t know about anyone else, but there’s a slight worry that when I go home there’s a good chance I’ll have 1 friend. That is because my other selfish friends are doing masters or years abroad or super long uni courses, so for myself, having no friends is a legit worry. In combating this boredom, I am personally aiming to use this time to do a number of things I have always wanted to do but haven’t done. The first of these is running, like outside and stuff. Another one is learning to use Photoshop (I know, random combination). So this may be helpful for you too: make a list of things you’ve always wanted to do and then make another list on how you can complete these things. In my case I’m gonna re-download the Nike running app, maybe join a running club and therefore hopefully avoid being billy no-mates for the rest of my life. And maybe also go to some overpriced Photoshop lessons.

 

4. The next step to living a stress-free fabulous post-uni life (lol ok) is making some kind of vague plans for the future. i.e. stop crying into your (my) Ben and Jerry’s about back in the day of being a fresher: “remember that time my housemate set the fire extinguisher all over the flat, evacuating the whole block of flats while I was passed out in the bathroom the whole time” (a true story btw). Instead, make some future plans. Life out of uni isn’t actually that shit, there are many perks: having money, and a healthy liver are just 2 of them. So think of the positives! I’m planning this fresh out of uni-living with my parents time to plan a year of “finding myself” on a post-uni gap yah… and TBH that sounds way more fun than sitting in the library for 27 hours straight crying about my dissertation.

I won’t lie to you, writing this blog post was more about de-stressing myself than helping others. And I do feel more optimistic about moving home and stuff now, so I hope you do too!

I’m going to finish with a wise quote from a potentially wise boy off tinder:

“It sucks but you can’t live in the student bubble forever”

(so wise)

 

Thank you for reading, honestly means a lot

xoxoxoxoxoxo