Her Twenties

No one talks about life after college – unless it’s the successful, “I have a job lined up right after college” story. The truth is that 53% of college graduates are unemployed or working in a job that is irrelevant to their degree. It may come as a shock, but I am a part of that 53%.

I graduated college and moved back home since I was (and still am) searching for what I like to call, a “big girl job.” I’m not going to lie, two years ago I said I would never move back home. So, you can imagine all of the great things I thought about myself while making the move back home.

The trials you are left to navigate through life after college are difficult to say the least. You have to deal with the fact that one major part of your life is completely over, your best friends all live in different states, and you don’t even have a job that’s relevant to your degree. To put it simply, it sucks.

I’ve only been home about a month and I had a breakdown during my doctor’s appointment. I expressed through tears that I feel like I don’t belong in my own hometown, I don’t want to get out of bed, and that I find my goals unattainable. Shout out to my nurse practitioner, Amanda, for being my therapist for 45 minutes. Amanda told me that she remembers living at home after college feeling like she was the outsider of her own hometown. Clarity came over me because I knew then that I wasn’t alone, like I thought I was.

Knowing that my nurse practitioner felt the same way that I did just 15 years prior, made it somehow easier to understand what I was going through. It also sparked something in me to talk about this journey more. I had no idea that all of the unwanted feelings and thoughts I’m having are normal for someone who just graduated college.

I believe if we start to have an authentic conversation about the reality of recent college graduates (who don’t have it figured out), I think it could change the narrative that we’ve believed for years.

We are told that you graduate high school, go to college, get your degree, and then your career is right there waiting for you. It’s like how girls are told that prince charming is going to sweep them off their feet. It sets and unrealistic image in our head and when we don’t get a job after college, or prince charming doesn’t show up, we feel like we’ve failed, or that there’s something wrong with us; because we’ve never seen the other side of it.

I’m here to share my experience in hopes to show someone that they’re not alone. This topic is shown in an unrealistic light that casts fear and failure onto recent college graduates.