So senior year is supposed to be the greatest year of your college career, right? Yeah, for the first week maybe, and then comes the endless stream of: “So what are your plans next year?” from your parents and friends. Good. Freaking. Question.
If you’re anything like me, you have absolutely no idea what you’re eating for dinner tonight, let alone where you’ll be living and whom you’ll be employed for ten months from now. And when you even attempt to try and make a plan, you experience a whirl of emotions that leave you in the fetal position on the floor, crying for your mom.
Excitement. Oh my God! I’m going to get to move to New York City, live in an awesome apartment in Upper East with my best friends, drink fancy cocktails at rooftop bars, and I’ll never have to worry about assigned readings and essays again!
Realization. Oh wait…my parents are cutting me off after I graduate, so I DEFINITELY can’t afford that apartment OR those cocktails. I’ll be lucky if I’m sleeping on a couch and drinking away my sorrows with Natty Light. Not to mention, I’m probably going to be doing slave labor for my job and working until midnight on weekends.
Sorrow. After this year, all of your friends are moving to different cities and you’re going to have to make a whole new group of friends, find new roommates, find a new favorite restaurant…and no one at the local Starbucks is going to know your drink order by heart!
Panic. Are you kidding me?! My sorority sister just got a job offer with a huge firm and I haven’t updated my resume in a year. How are people already applying for jobs? I’m so behind; I’m never going to get a job, and I’m going to live on my parents’ couch forever!
Determination. You REFUSE to live with your parents post-grad, so you’ve decided that it’s game time! You buckle down, you knock out a ridiculous amount of job applications and you’re finally starting to feel good about yourself. Until…
Uncertainty. I majored in public relations. What if I don’t want to do public relations for the rest of my life?! Why didn’t I think about this earlier?
And then you start right back over with the panic attack stage…
But don’t worry, y’all! My mom always tells me, “Everything’s going to work out just fine.” Hopefully she’s right. There’s excitement in the unknown, right?