After graduating last semester, I have been at home trying to make some money and relax a bit before going to grad school in June. I know a while back I was writing an article about whether graduating early was worth it, and now I can say that it definitely has its pros and cons.
I thoroughly enjoyed being stress free and not having to worry about classes, due dates and grades, and instead working two jobs to make some money in the meantime. With my jobs, I had the opportunity to work as a PT (physical therapy) Aide. This couldn’t have come at a better time as I had just left my toxic work environment in December and immediately got the Aide position. Through this job I acquired more skills and learned so much from the physical therapists I worked with and got an insight as to what my future profession would look like. On top of making money, I was able to explore some more of what I liked and disliked and was able to do it on my own time and at my own will. I started weekly hikes, and meditation and yoga classes to my routine and loved it. For the first time in a while, I had found my inner peace again and was happy with what I had in the moment. There was no toxic roommate to deal with or an obligation to make everyone around me happy. I was the focus now.
The only downsides I experienced with my gap semester was just being out of loop with friends at times, butting heads with my parents, feeling overwhelmed with my college and not being able to travel. As expected being away from my college would cause me to miss out on going out to dinner and drinks with friends, and the senior year memories, but at the same time I learned who my true friends were. The few times I had come back to Scranton, I hung out with my closest friends, witnessed some long-time friends grow out of the friendship I had with them and continued to deal with ex-friends (who by now I had expected to have moved on from the past as I had, but clearly had not). With my parents, things have been good other than the handful of times where I had to recognize that I was still living under their roof and couldn’t fully live my life as a single woman. In terms of college, I just had to deal with emailing one person after the next to either deal with incorrect charges or just being able to walk during graduation. I am also very nervous to go back for grad school since I haven’t been in a proper school setting for a long time (yes I’m talking pre-COVID). The one thing I think I was most upset about was not being able to travel. If you know me by now, you know I love traveling and exploring the world. With COVID and wanting to also maintain two jobs this idea was squashed, but I am hoping that in 2022 I can go somewhere even if it’s for a week.
Even with all this happening, I’m just trying to make the most of my last 5 weeks at home. I still have my graduation in a couple of weeks, and then after that I’ll be moving into my apartment with my best friends where I’ll start a new chapter of my life.