As it gets closer and closer to graduation season, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked the question, “What’s your plan after graduation?” and I’m sure you’ve been asked this too. If you’re like me, this question brings existential panic: “Am I where I’m supposed to be? Should I know where I’m going next?” I find myself looking at others, comparing where I should be with where they appear to be and worrying if I’m doing this whole university thing “right”. But don’t panic, there are so many reasons as to why it’s completely okay to not know where you’ll be after graduation.
1. Graduating is an accomplishment
Graduating is an accomplishment worth celebrating. You should take this as a time to celebrate your achievements throughout your academic career and acknowledge how far you’ve come. This is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. Graduating from university is a milestone and a significant (and often one-time) event. You earned this accomplishment and that is something to be proud of! Take the time to reflect on your memories made in university and all that you’ve learned during your time here.
2. You are still young
You don’t need to know everything right now and it shouldn’t be expected of you to know everything. You have so much time to explore your passions, explore the world, explore new hobbies, explore your job options (volunteer, network, test jobs, seek out an apprenticeship/internship) and explore yourself. Take some time for yourself, who knows when or if you’ll have this time again to understand yourself and truly find what’s right for you. It could end up being something you hadn’t even planned for or originally sought out for yourself, but how will you know unless you take the time to explore these options? Be adventurous! Find your people! Take chances! Make mistakes! Allow yourself to be young while you still can!
3. There is no deadline
You run on your own clock now. There are no deadlines to figure out where you should be and you aren’t running out of time. Don’t compare yourself to other people because everyone is moving by the works of their own clock at their own pace. There is no right or wrong time to choose to do things. You are not behind, but simply running on your own time. Just because your parents got married and had full-time jobs at 23 doesn’t mean you have to fit your life into this (modernly unreasonable) time frame. We are in far different times and there’s enough time in the world to take your time and stop to smell the roses.
4. Life is not a staircase
We have most often looked at life in steps, where one step leads to the next, suggesting that you cannot move forward until that first step is achieved. Life doesn’t actually work this way! No one has it all figured out. Everyone is following their own journey. There will be setbacks, accomplishments, failures and successes all intertwined. We have to learn to roll with the punches and take things for what they are as they come.
5. MYTH: Everyone else has it figured out
Others may look put together on the outside. Some may have ideas of what they want to do or have plans for their future. Does this mean you have to? Absolutely not! It is okay to be unsure. Nothing is ever set in stone. Not all efforts go as planned either, but it’s good to have these experiences and/or potential failures while you are young and still figuring out where you want to be. A lot of people tend to look at their parents for where they should be next, but what they fail to recognize is that they didn’t necessarily know at this time either.
To the people asking this question: there are far better ways to ask it, such as “What are you interested in?”, “What are your goals?” or “What are you looking forward to after graduating?”.
To students that hear this time and time again: people that ask these questions are often just looking out for you and wondering how you are as you approach this milestone of graduation. They do mean well and are often unaware that they are inciting panic in you. You don’t need to know the specifics or discuss them. I find the best way to address this question (with the least amount of stress for myself) is to focus my answer on the present.