Unfortunately, due to my life quickly changing, I haven’t had the time to sit down and write about anything during the past couple of months. It’s been a bit of a bummer, especially because I had a bunch of great things planned for Hispanic Heritage Month, Cybersecurity Month, #metoo and every outrageous thing that happened in the news…but here we are, right before Thanksgiving.
And right now, I really can’t help but admit that life moves pretty fast.
Taking a moment to pause and reflect on adulthood, I would say that it has been strange but fun. No major complaints aside from the general growing pains with figuring out how to adjust to a new schedule and new demands. I travel for work now, need to constantly update my calendar, message my friends when I’m in town and let them know that I’m alive and want to hangout, and spent a really horrible month searching for an apartment.
Presently, I’m feeling burnt out and slightly under the weather, but really grateful for my life. And that definitely feels weird. What also feels weird? The fact that I just went to my first homecoming and it was fun and my summer feels like a lifetime away and that I have work friends and coworkers and all of these new expectations. I love that my life is different and I am just easing into these new expectations. Life and work and friends and relationships are all challenging but not in bad ways. This is just an opportunity to truly live by the values I’ve been touting in college–no trial run this time.
So far, I’ve visited several new cities I’ve seen before, signed up for my first triathlon, traveled for work, attended a bunch of amazing events, tried out new workout classes, consistently bike around the city and find new things, celebrated 3 years with my boyfriend, moved in my first apartment and bought furniture and become more independent, booked my first vacation, started paying off my loans, and attempted to figure out this balancing act.
Some early thoughts so far:
- hey new grads! be very kind to yourself
- you graduated college and if you have a job–great! pinch yourself everyday this year and remind yourself that you’re pretty great and you worked so hard for this. you cannot–you MUST not forget that you wanted what you are now doing so badly and you can’t take that for granted. but also, don’t rest on your laurels–keep on showing up and bringing it on.
- if you don’t have a job–have faith. somehow, things work out and you’ll be there. also, please ignore social media, it’s so deceiving.
- you can still be part of communities. you just need to seek them but you would be surprised how many new communities you can now be a part of.
- use this as an opportunity to take yourself out of your comfort zone. show up to random events by yourself. reach out. don’t say no and do it.
- find some random hobbies that you’ve always wanted to try.