Gradualtion Blues
It has been almost two full weeks since graduation celebrations have come to a close and if you were a graduating senior, you may be experiencing what I like to call "graduation blues." This ailment shows symptoms such as; perpetual state of melancholy, anxiety, frequent social media torture, as well as slight case of existential depression. But why is it that some of us feel this way? The completion of a college degree is meant to be a milestone accomplishment on our journey of life fulfillment, right? So why does it feel like we're drifting in this huge ocean of doubt on a skipper made of fear? I don't have to point out the rate in which social media has changed the ways in which we interact with others and even ourselves. Our culture seems to promote what I call a "fast food lifestyle." We have access to all of this information and stimulation, but no real meaning in them. Facebook, and instagram dominate our means for interaction, even down to the way we are measured by future employers! We follow people on social media sites to compare ourselves to our newly defined "friends," as a means of self torture. While we're in school, we feel like we're working towards a goal. We have a vision of accomplishing the task of graduating and expect this overwhelming sense of achievement and elation upon completing. Now that our elation and relief is replaced by concern and angst about our future, we seem to be on edge. We've become so worried about finding that "good job" that our parents are pushing us to find, getting into or being denied from our dream grad and professional schools, chasing the good life that we see flashed all over our instagram through images of our "friends" seemingly constant vactions that we have forgotten one thing... Life is an individual sport.We've gotten this far by ourselves! That is not to say that we didn't have support systems, but all of the support in the world did not take that organic chemistry final for you, or stay up until 4am writing that thesis on Merton's strain theories. The same way we worked our way towards earning a degree, we can continue to work and attain any new goal which is valuable to us. Our values drive our goals, decisions and the roads we travel in life. Instead of continuing to be caught up in our graduation blues, I challenge each of us to do a bit of self evaluation and identify our values. They can act as the guiding map on this new journey out of graduation blues and into the life we truly want.