An incredibly wise man once said, “I just want to be — I just want to be successful.”
All but the very most depressed and cynical of us can relate to this beautifully written statement, but how many of us actually know how to do it?
For the majority of my youth I worshipped my textbooks. Made sure to never use their titles in vain. Never missed a class without saying 100 “Hail McGraw-Hill”s.
Eventually, I realized that no matter how much I read, I was never going to find the “How To Answer When Your Grandmother Asks What You’re Planning To Do After Graduation” chapter.
But over the years, I’ve compiled a few of my own answers you could try out next time you find yourself in one of those shameful interrogation sessions:
1) “Well, you know, I’m really just trying to keep my
options open right now.”
2) “Oh, I’m so glad you asked that! I actually have an interview tomorrow for … Wait, I’m not
supposed to tell you. It’s top
secret!”
3) “Why the hell does everything have to be about money with
you? Ah, I’m so sick of this
family! This is why we don’t call you for your birthday anymore!”
In any event, here I am less than a year from what I always thought was ensured financial, social and psychological stability. And I’m teeter-tottering on the tips of my toes on top of a terribly tall mountain.
In other words, my life is nowhere near stable and not even alliteration can fix that.
While the Olinde Career Center is a phenomenal service, you can’t expect the people there to hold your hand through the entire process of growing up.
That’s your job. Or more likely, your lack thereof.
In fact, it’s probably about that time to start submitting the first drafts of speeches for your kids’ elementary school career days for review by the English department. The older you get, the faster time sprints by. The clock’s a-ticking, and the digits on your phone are changing shape.
J.D. put it extremely well in an episode of “Scrubs.”
“I thought growing up was something that happened automatically as you got older. But it turns out it’s something you have to choose to do,” he said.
As I’ve grown up, I’ve become more ashamed that I used to be one of those people who thought that if you just do what everyone else is doing, everything will work out, and you won’t ever have to employ critical thought.
Ironic that an aspiring engineer would be so opposed to problem solving.
I can’t be sure what everyone else was told, but I grew up being taught that the preferred, almost necessary and absolutely sufficient method of “making it” was to go to school.
But all my life I’ve just been working toward the often heard-of but rarely seen next steps.
In elementary school, they prepared me for middle school by teaching me cursive.
In middle school, they prepared me for high school by teaching me how to be rejected by girls.
In high school, they prepared me for college by… well, I guess we can skip that step.
Those of us who choose to go to college spend the first 20-or-so years of our lives chained down by educational, social and financial rules, yelling for someone to let us free.
And as soon as someone finally comes along, sticks that key in the lock and turns it, we ask, “Where do I go now?”
Unfortunately, I’m still far from having the answer to that question.
If by the end of this semester I have any more of an idea, I’ll make sure to clue you guys in.
Ryan Monk is a 21-year-old chemical engineering senior from Lake Charles, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @RyanMonkTDR.
Opinion: You should be afraid of the post-graduation abyss
By Ryan Monk
September 24, 2014
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