Usually people tell you what you should and shouldn’t do as you graduate high school and pack up your bags togo off to college. But it’s weird. Not as many people tell you what to do and what they wish they had known when they graduated college.
So here’s my two cents in the first couple years after graduating:
Know what you’re willing to spend your money on and budget (everyone has different financial priorities—recognizing yours earlier serves you better in the long term)
You need renters insurance when you get your first apartment (use Lemonade).
Trader Joe’s is good for everything except for produce
Seek community with intention. College makes it too easy.
Get a good credit card with the right point benefits.
HR is never your friend (when they say something is anonymous, it never really is—be careful)
Family is always first. Don’t ever forget that.
It will inevitably get harder to see lots of friends. So find the important few you want to dedicate the time to and want to surround yourself with. The right people go a long ways. Don’t stretch yourself too thin.
Find your local small businesses and become friends with the employees and owners (It’s a great way of connecting to community and also picking up a couple perks along the way)
You always need to take care of yourself before you can take care of those you care about. It may feel selfish at first, but you need to do that in order to be your best self to help them.
But most importantly, know that things will inevitably get shitty. Like “I want to give it all up and do nothing” shitty. “Did the past several years mean anything” shitty. What matters is not whether your actions were something you did right or something you did wrong. What matters is how you choose to move forward and grow in the face of adversity.
You innately have a strong spirit and a true North Star. It’s something special that not a lot of people have. It’s something you should take pride in and continue to live your life by.
After a certain point in time after repeated failures, I questioned if making the sacrifice and going to Eleven in the name of “accelerated growth and experience” rather than pursuing something more secure and safe. But I stuck to my own spirit and North Star, pivoted and adapted as I needed to, worked my ass off—and it all works out. And that’s only in the context of career. The same ethos applies to your personal life too.
Read the writing on the wall. Keep your head on a swivel. Be vigilant. Be adaptive. Eyes and ears open. You’ve got this, kid.
And when you don’t think you do, you know whose shoulder you can always tap.
You’ve worked incredibly hard and have grown so much in the past four years.