Student Blog: Home Sweet Home

College is over now what? We've said our goodbyes and packed up our lives and moved home or somewhere new we've never been before. We're no longer college students, we're I guess what the world calls 'a real adult' and there is a lot to figure out and it looks different for everyone. The most important thing to remember is to not compare yourself.

Your 20s are a very interesting time. You have friends that are traveling the world and living their dreams, friends who are getting married and having babies and then you also have friends who are living at home figuring things out. I feel like there is an unsaid expectation that we are supposed to know exactly who we are and what we want to be in this world as soon as we finish crossing the stage at graduation, but that just isn't reality. Some students are just as lost when they graduate as they were when they started and that's ok. People say college is for self discovery and for exploration and it is, but it doesn't stop once you graduate. You won't magically know all the answers once you leave school. College just provides us with tools and opportunities to venture out into the world and guide our exploring.

In my four years at UC Irvine I learned a lot about myself and who I want to be. I changed my direction and studies a few times and ended up a journalist in addition to being a dancer, which wasn't where I saw myself four years prior. I see this point in my life more as a jumping point and by no means an ending point.

I used to paint this facade in my head that as soon as I graduated I would immediately have my life sorted and I would in no way be going home, but as graduation approached I quickly realized that that wasn't realistic for the plans I had for myself and that just because my friends weren't moving home didn't mean I was in any way 'behind'. We all have different dreams and goals and we are all going to run down our own paths to get there and if that means spending six months at home before I jump then so be it.

There is absolutely no shame in moving home after you graduate to save some money, to make money before you run after your dreams, or for whatever reason it may be. There is no general success timeline that you are required to follow or race down. The only timeline you have to focus on is yours. Everything will happen at the right time. Comparing yourself to the stories of others will only pull your focus and slow you down. It's like running a race. If you are constantly looking back out of worry you will eventually be in last place and everyone else behind you would have passed you up. That being said, you should stay focused, keep your eye on the prize, and just keep running. We have to put all of our focus into ourselves because we can't afford to waste the energy on other people who are likely not wasting their time worrying about us. Trust the process because I promise it will all work out.