Post-Grad Life Doesn't Have to Suck

Don't be Ron Burgundy.

I know I said this before, but I’m going to say it again. Post-grad life does not have to suck. I can’t help but think back from time to time before I left FSU where people would ask me, “OMG how could you want to leave FSU so early?! These will be the best years of your life!” If you ask me— if getting shitfaced 4 nights a week, worrying about how to pay for the simplest things on a budget, going to classes that really don’t prepare me for the real world and crying over a failed test that really has no impact on my life whatsoever— if this is the best my life can get and it’s over at 21, that is one very depressing life. Yes, college was a blast. Yes, there are memories that I will never forget (and the ones that are difficult to remember) and the level of responsibility is the lowest it ever will be in my entire life. Yes, joining my sorority and studying abroad and meeting incredible people that have changed my life forever is something that I will always fondly look back on... but I am so happy to be starting something new.

Now, I’m not going to say that being a big girl is all of a sudden rainbows and sunshine... sitting in an office really does suck. Sometimes I’ll just stare out of the window and Google all of the things I would rather be doing than just sitting. Unfortunately, there are more things in life that I know I’ll have to do that I don’t want to do, where it is completely out of my control.

BUT! I still have the freedom I did in college (if not, more so because I’m really not tied down by any other commitments than my internship) and I can still choose how to live my life. Once I leave the office at 6, it’s a free world out there.  And, *spoiler alert* I can still drink like I did in college and it’s totally cool because my tolerance is higher and I can now be picky about my drinks.  
Nice knowing you Skol, but my new friends Jameson and Ginger are waiting for me.   

And even though I’m sitting in an office, it has allowed me to come up with other things that I would enjoy doing in my free time and my time after this internship is over. Hell, I’m in Europe, I can go wherever I want on this little continent on the weekend and still make it back to my building on Aston Quay by 10 am on Monday. And not only am I able to travel, but the people I work with are actually pretty cool and I appreciate talking to them about how they see the world through Irish eyes. We also work with groups that volunteer abroad (where many of my co-workers have done so themselves), which has inspired me to look for volunteering options as well.

I can feel my perspective expanding, even if I’m not doing the most exciting things in the office. I also have time to read things that interest me, rather than cram whatever crap information I’m assigned to read for my classes. Wait, I can use this brain to think for myself?! Weird!

I know I’m going to have many more challenges thrown my way, and I know that I’ll always have happy memories of FSU. But every day I feel like I made the right decision to leave early, more so than the days before—and I’m excited to choose which way my life goes as I get out of the institutional box that I was shoved into since age 3.

With that, I have been thinking—never peak. Ever. Always leave at your best, and don’t extend your stay. We all know the girl who peaked in High School, or the frat star that decided to never really leave college, and we pity them. I’m all for making the next stage of life better than the last as I get older and less stupid. I’m becoming more comfortable with the fact that I really don’t know much at all, and I don’t expect to know all of the world’s secrets by the time this life is over, but it doesn't hurt to be conscious and curious to experience what else is out there.

And I’m gonna stay curious.