Ask Garrett for Oct. 2, 2013
Dear Garrett,
The future is terrifying. I’m happy with my major and my career plans, but just the idea of going out into the world and being a real adult makes me want to crawl under my bed and hide. How can I start feeling confident about transitioning from college life to the real world?
Sincerely,
Staying at MC Forever
Dear Staying at MC Forever,
You likely already have the first part of this transition settled. If you are happy with your major and already have future career plans, then you are ahead of most of us. Take a moment, pat yourself on the back, and appreciate the fact that you have this going for you.
As for all of the other things that come with transitioning to the real world, those can be a bit more difficult to handle. After all, most of us have no clue of what to expect. What happens when we leave campus, have to find a place to live, cook for ourselves, and deal with budgeting and paying bills? It is completely normal to feel terrified about transitioning to a life that includes all of those tasks and obstacles.
However, there is hope. The first step is to find a career and get a job within that career. This should be your first focus, since it will provide you with the money to pay for everything else. From there, you can find and learn pretty much everything. Also, all of your friends will be making this transition, so it is not as though you are doing this alone. You and your friends can learn from each other and, by trial and error, you can make sure that you all do not make the same mistake multiple times.
If you would like to further prepare yourself for this transition, I would speak to the adults in your life. Whether it be your family, friends, professors, advisors or any other adult figure you respect, they can provide you with plenty of advice about how to get started with life after you leave our college. Basically, you just need to remember that you are not alone in this experience, and that will hopefully keep you from freaking out too much over this ordeal.
Don’t worry. We are all worried about leaving college, but we are MC students. We can do anything we put our minds to.
Sincerely,
Garrett