So I Graduated, Now What?

Written by Reese Tackett

Graphic by Natalia Cordero

Creative Directed by Sarah Jeon

About seventeen years straight of schooling — kindergarten to senior year of college. For years, we’ve been told what to do and been given step by step tools. But now, for the first time, we’ll have the most freedom some of us have ever felt. But what now? With so much freedom — how do we choose?

Well, you don’t really. In the coming years, it’s going to be weird, strange, uncomfortable, amazing, frustrating, and everything in between. Life after college is not a one size fits all. For some of us, things may fall right into place; for others, we may have to work our asses off to get there. Just remember, all your hard work, everything that you’ve been doing now — and in the future — doesn’t go unnoticed. All of that time and effort doesn’t just fade into nothingness — it’s in you and I. 

Maybe it was easy, maybe it wasn’t. But you did it, and you’ll do it again. 

If someone tells you “don’t dream so big” or “you’ll never achieve that,” don’t listen. Your dreams aren’t too big, in fact, dream bigger. Take up space. Don’t even for a second let people change what your heart desires. That dream, that goal, it will push you where you need to be if you let it. Let the dream push you to do the things that scare you. Take the job, take the flight, take the risk, and see just how far it takes you.  

Seventeen or so years of schooling is coming to a close, so what are we supposed to do now? Apply for jobs? Travel? Move back home? Move away? Every question flies through the mind. I can do anything, so why is it so difficult to choose something? The reality is, whatever you choose to do will be right. Somehow, some way where you’re meant to be will find you.
As Timothée Chalamet once said, “You can be the master of your fate and you can be the captain of your soul, but you have to realize life is coming from you, not at you. And that takes time.”