The Bitter & The Sweet
Tonight I will be attending my last college class ever. Graduation day is nearing, and it feels bittersweet.
The Bitter
I never thought that after finishing college I would have no idea what my next step would be. I have always had a fairly privileged life. There has always been a next step planned out for me, and I have never had to wonder whether the next step was possible. My wonderful, loving family has supported me through all those concerns.
I will admit I never thought the recession was going to affect me. I have always been the lucky one in my family. So when the recession first started while I was in high school, I thought it was going to cause problems for my older brother, but not for me. That’s just how things always went. He was the unlucky one, not me (sorry, Jason). But as it turns out, I graduate in one week, and the economy has not shot back up like I always imagined it would. I don’t have a job lined up, no career set. After filling out dozens of applications, I am exhausted and fighting to not be discouraged.
The Sweet
Sure I have had my struggles with academics: being on scholarship probation for three semesters, hating my major during my freshmen and sophomore year, and then completely changing my major halfway through college. But despite all of that, I somehow still managed to raise my GPA and graduate a semester early. I get a head start on the job search, and I also get to take a nice, long graduation trip to Taiwan (courtesy of my aforementioned wonderful, loving family).
Plus, maybe I’ll start blogging about my job search. I’ll be like Alexis Bledel’s character in Post-Grad, minus the videos (no one wants to see me vlogging in my sweats, trust me).
In the end, I am and always will be a believer that everything happens for a reason. Sure it can be kind of discouraging to not hear back from an employer, but if I don’t get one job, maybe it’s because I’m better suited for another. I guess my “Apply for Jobs” post-it note will just have to stay on my desktop a little longer.
