A Key to the Unknown

So it’s been almost 48 hours since my graduation and I have to say that adjusting is a bit difficult. I sort of wander about my parent’s house in a daze with nothing to do yet constantly thinking there is something I could be doing. I have to reassure myself that I don’t have any essays to write or tests to take—not for at least a year anyway when I head to graduate school. I was not one of the lucky seniors that secured work before graduation so I’m on a mad dash to find work for the fall. This summer I have a seminar program that pays me so I think about that to not discourage myself. It’s hard not to think what the use an expensive education is when friends of mine who chose to work instead of going to college are doing okay for themselves. While I, on the other hand, am frantically applying to any and everything so that I don’t become one of those unemployed statistics. It’s then that I think about all the kind words friends and family gave me the days before and during graduation that console me. This degree is significant although I am currently pushing myself in a million different directions right now. As I gain more and more work experience, this degree will serve to be invaluable to me. Even as I look at the diploma and admit it’s just a piece of paper in fancy wrapping, it’s power demands a certain respect and acknowledgement. With this paper doors are consistently open to me and only my imagination limits me, which is refreshing. The world is endless and enormous and I am grateful that I had the drive to accomplish so much. I am the first graduate in my immediate family and I’m sure when my parents embarked on the job hunt many doors were slammed in their face. I find that there are a plethora of employers out there who are itching to shape and mold recent graduates and willing to train them. It seems that experience, while important no doubt, is not the eliminating factor for the graduate that lacks it. The degree grants certain rites of passages that others can only dream of attaining. All of these thoughts have culminated into that brief moment the 29th of May that granted me my key to the unknown and in so doing gave me endless possibilities. Although I am on the “mad dash” it worries me not at all. I mean it is hard work applying for jobs and nerve racking waiting for approvals but at least with this key I know these days will soon be few and far between.