15 Things You Need to Know in '15 to Ease the Transition after Graduation into "Adult Life"

You lie awake staring at the ceiling, soaking up the last minutes of peace before your alarm goes off again. You try to keep yourself from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the day, but your stomach is already in knots before your feet even hit the floor. You decide coffee may not be the best remedy to ease your jitters and you hardly have an appetite for breakfast, so you resolve to chug a water bottle and listen to your favorite playlist in an attempt to curb this nagging feeling in your gut. Your final alarm goes off signaling the time to get dressed and rush out the door, if you want to be there on time... or at all.

Once you've arrived and everyone is in place, Pomp and Circumstance reverberates through the halls, signaling the start of the ceremony. The only other sound heard is feet shuffling to file into alphabetical order to march down the aisle. And then it's your turn. You secure your cap one last time and take that first step through the door. The tassel skirt dangles in your face as you join the promenade and look around in wonderment at the mass of people that would willingly subject themselves to such an event.

Spirit banners are everywhere. Cameras never stop flashing. School colors splayed across the auditorium in every way imaginable. Latin Phrases everywhere you look.

Blah Blah Blah, the ceremony drones on. The day feels anticlimactic as the speaker attempts to impart some final epiphany to the graduating class and the administration monotonously announces hundreds of names, at which point you attempt to stifle snickers at the most complicated ones. You recognize it's not this particular day that is holding your stomach captive and your mind in anxious disarray. It's everything that came before. It's everything that will come after.

And then your row stands. And you march together toward the stage. And the moment grows nearer as you hike up your robe and walk up the final steps toward the shining spotlight. And then you hear it... your name. You try to focus on this moment and not miss a second of it. After all, this is what you've worked toward for four years, or really since kindergarten. Isn't it? You take a breath, steel yourself, and close the gap between yourself and the school's president in order to shake his hand and take hold of your beloved, long-awaited diploma.

At this point, the day seems to be in fast-forward mode: You take an official picture with your diploma. Hug a few favorite professors. Live tweet about ridiculous moments in the ceremony. Take pictures with friends and family. Head to a celebratory lunch. Move out. and just like that, this day and the last 4 years are now in your rearview.

"What am I going to do next?" you ask yourself. Just remember to breathe. This transition from college to the real world is a challenge for everyone(even if most people are too prideful to admit it). I wish I had known these 15 things to help me transition into "adult life" after graduation.

1. Get plugged in. Whether you've moved somewhere completely new or you've just moved back home to a familiar city, you're not the same person you were when you left for college and everything is new. Find things to be involved with in your city, whether it's a book club, a spin class, a Church group, a calligraphy class, a networking group, playing bingo with the senior citizens, etc. Go to concerts. Try new restaurants. Go to the park with your dog. You can keep it simple and cheap. Find out what's going on in your city and figure out a way to be apart of it. Warning: Don't overwhelm yourself by committing to too many things at once.

2. Make time for hobbies. This is a way of having ownership of something in a world of student loans, car loans, and apartment rent. Focusing on your passions in this time of transition will keep you motivated, and frankly, will keep you sane.

3. Expect to fail. Failure, believe it or not, is a good thing...unlike what we've been taught our entire academic career. If you expect to fail, you'll be quick to see the learning opportunities and move forward in a constructive manner in order to fix the situation or move past it when you do fail. If you spend time wallowing in your failure, you'll A) waste time you could have spent constructively analyzing what to do differently next time and B) create bad patterns for yourself when you hit big failures in the future. Don't be discouraged.

4. Serve others. Volunteering is so incredibly rewarding, especially in this transition where our tendency is to be caught up thinking about our futures in our careers and personal lives, our looks and how to improve them, how to improve performance at work, money, love, etc. How can we happier or more successful or more loved or more beautiful? It's wasted effort because it's exhausting to be inside our own head all the time worrying about what's next. Narcissism is never rewarding and it's always lonely. Finding a way to serve other people in your community helps put things into perspective and reminds us what really matters in the world. Make volunteering a pattern in your life, even if it's only an hour once a month to start, you'll be surprised at how much joy can come from it.Get involved in something bigger than yourself.

5. Plan Financially. This one can be a bummer, but it doesn't have to be. Try to make it fun because it's even more fun and rewarding to splurge once you've been planning and saving. You're no longer on mommy and daddy's dime, so you have to learn to live within your means. Don't overspend. Don't go into debt. Save up as much as you can and pay off loans as fast as you can. Oh, and start investing in your 401K.

6. Get out of your comfort zone.  Do things you wouldn't typically do or haven't done before. This is the time in life to find new passions and discover skills you didn't know you had. Believe me, it's awkward and uncomfortable walking into something new, but what isn't fun is doing the same, boring, routine, thing for the rest of your life. Mix it up. Join a beginners adult drama class, do karaoke when you're out with your friends, go skydiving, pickup a new sport, turn off your electronics for a day. Don't waste your life being complacent and comfortable.

7. Document your thoughts. Whether it's a blog, a private journal, a song, a painting, photography, you'll be glad later when you're able to refer to your thoughts during this transition. You'll enjoy looking back and seeing how much you've changed.

8. Learn to be alone. Take yourself out to the movies or a coffee shop or take a walk or go to a concert. Essentially you should date yourself and learn to be comfortable being you, without the crutch of a phone to hide behind. Go do new things alone. It's a challenge walking into a room full of people and sitting next to someone you don't know, then actually striking up a conversation with a stranger. People want to be heard and loved. People crave that human connection - like you do. You'll be glad you did. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet your lifelong best friends. If it's an awkward experience, at least you have a funny story.

9. It's okay to need downtime. It doesn't mean you're lazy, it just means to need to recharge from all of the changes, new habits, and circumstances in your life. Use your downtime wisely, though. It seems easier to watch Netflix and veg, but this will end up draining you more. Instead, do something more constructive like house projects you've been meaning to get to, learning new healthy recipes, listening to your favorite music or books on tape, or having a picnic in the sun. I highly recommend not sleeping the day completely away - or you'll regret it later.


10. Read. Anything and everything. Articles, Books, Blogs, newspapers, short stories, classics, mysteries, fantasy, biographies, whatever you can get your hands on. It keeps your mind sharp and you'll have a broader perspective, vocabulary and imagination. Stay in touch with current events and what's going on in the world. No matter how far away it may seem from you, it's never really as far removed from you as you think.

11. Go on adventures, even if you're staying in town.  This one was big for me, because I really missed going on road trips and cruises and backpacking around Europe with my sister. There are plenty of new things to try right in your home town! Be a tourist in your own city for a weekend, maybe even stay in a hotel for a night to make it feel more real. You don't have to leave your city to have an adventure, you just have to look at your city with a new perspective.

12. Make time to keep up with people you love. When commonalities become sparse and distance is a factor, it can be hard to make the effort and find the time to check up on people you love. To make a relationship/friendship last, you have to do more than sporadic texts with a half-hearted "what's up?" Find a way to communicate and understand their point-of-view, empathize with their struggles and rejoice with them in their successes even if it's from afar. Don't give up, but know that it's going to be harder than before and you have to be willing to make the extra effort.

13. Have a Mentor. Have a professional mentor and a personal mentor. This is so crucial. It will help you define your path, consider a different perspective and objective opinion, give you guidance when you're feeling discouraged and lost. The list goes on and on. The people you choose should be people you admire. They should be respectable and successful ( I don't necessarily mean Dollar $igns). Write down questions, but don't limit yourself to those; be curious. Ask them anything and everything. Ask them about themselves - about their successes, failures, regrets, dreams. Make sure to have regular communication with them whether by email, phone, or coffee date. Be respectful of their time and don't forget to figure out a way to give back to them.

14. Always be working toward a goal. This gives you something to look forward to, especially since you don't have the typical academic benchmarks to which you've become accustomed. Working toward a goal will keep you on your toes and always striving to be better. If you don't have any goals, you'll walk around aimless, wasting your time without actually achieving anything. Set small victories and bigger milestones, and don't forget to celebrate once you've surpassed them!

15. Don't wish for it to be over. Find joy in the struggles and be happy in spite of your circumstances. Don't waste time wishing your life away.Be patient and be fully present in this moment and in your reality, especially if it's not what you want it to be. If you're waiting for life to be easy and perfect before you decide to be happy, you'll be waiting quite a long while. Look for joy in the small things if you think there's nothing else.

"May the road rise up to meet you. 

May the Wind be always at your back. 

May the sun shine warm upon your face. 

And the rains fall soft upon your fields.

Until we meet again, my friend. 

Until we meet again. 

May God hold you in the palm of His hand"