Self-Help books are useless, you have to just go it alone.
I am at the awkward age of almost-out-of-college and not-grown-up yet and the only questions I seem to hear from people are “What are you going to do after you graduate?” and “Do you have a boyfriend?” It’s maddening. (The answers to these questions are “NO IDEA” and “NO,” respectively.
Another lovely benefit of this awkward age is the endless job search and the familiar phrase of “5+ years experience required.” That old catch-22 of not having experience, but being unable to acquire it. I do understand that I have to go through a series of dead-end, horrible, soul-killing jobs before I find what I am looking for. Sometimes, I think that is being optimistic.
I obsessively check my bank balance to see if God has performed some kind of miracle and placed millions of dollars in my account, enabling me to spend time after graduation (and before I start preparing to apply for graduate school) travelling the world and NOT WORKING. Not very realistic.
As far as the “do you have a boyfriend?” question goes, I really don’t understand why it is so important. Is it really that common for people my age and in my situation (about to graduate college) to have a certain plan for the future and be on that road? I know of people who already have jobs lined up and are engaged or married already… but is that really what is expected of me? I really do shudder at the thought.
Should I be in a panic to figure everything out right now? I don’t think so, and I don’t even think that the people who look at me so skeptically when I tell them “I have no plan” believe I should either. They were once in my shoes, too.