Okay, here she goes with the rant on how difficult the real
world is and how this lesson has taught her that and how living in LA must mean
she’s better than everyone else in the world because she “did it.” And although
I have a tendency to write about my over-comings and my experiences within this
so-called “real world,” (especially in LA) what I haven’t been doing is
appreciating it. I haven’t been appreciating how awesome this world and this
life really is. Even despite all of my “post-grad” grumbles.
I was recently signing a grad card to a good friend of mine
who just wrapped up an awesome 4 years at KU. (Who didn’t have an awesome 4
years at KU though?) And one of the things I wrote in the card was, “and just
remember, the real world doesn’t have to suck if you don’t let it.”
But really, it doesn’t have to.
We all fall into the pit of “life after college” and there
are countless articles and blog posts and tweets about how depressed we all are
after such an awesome experience and how sad we all are that “the best four
years of our lives are over.” But what you seem to never ever see (and I’m guilty for it as well) is people talking
about how much fun they’re having or how awesome life is while it’s happening.
The thing we all seem to forget (or maybe we just don’t
know) is how that fun doesn’t have to stop just because a chapter in life ends.
Just because something is over, or just because there’s a transition in life
doesn’t mean it has to be filled with sadness. It doesn’t mean that it can’t
still be fun.
I’m here to say that despite all of my complaining and eye
rolling and nostalgia induced tears when looking at graduation pictures over
the last couple of weeks, I really do enjoy the real world, and I enjoy it
because I’ve made it enjoyable.
Who’s to say that just because college is over and you’re officially
in “the real world” that you can’t have fun? That you can’t walk to a gas
station by yourself in your pj’s and get ice cream super late at night?
Obviously it was a little more fun when that ice cream was McDonalds at 2am and
that walk was a car full of friends, but still. There’s still something fun
about it.
And having fun doesn’t have to entail doing what you did in
college. My idea of fun now is admittedly very different than what I thought
was fun even a year ago. I’ll be the first to say I’m not itching for a dance
floor come Thursday night, and I don’t necessarily have to go out and get
wasted to consider a Friday night a success. (Admittedly, that was once my
thought process.)
You just have to realize that you have the power to do what
you want with your life. You have the control to be fun, or to not.
Sure, I may not be a social butterfly on the town every
weekend and I certainly don’t hit up every Happy Hour nearby, but I still have
fun doing other things, and I love what I do for a living. And what could be more fun than that?
Of course I get bored and need adventures every now and
then. Of course there are nights that I find myself watching endless amounts of
mindless television and think, wow my life is boring I wish my friends were
here. But it’s also at those moments of complete boredom that I wake up and
think, what am I doing? It’s time to get up and do something with myself,
because I can. And because the real world doesn’t have to suck. If you don't let it.
So for all you recent grads and people moving back home and
living a life of so-called “post-whatever
depression,” get up and get moving. Life is beautiful and it goes by way too fast.
I can hardly believe I’ve been out here for a year already.
That being said, there’s no sense in wasting time sitting
around and feeling sorry for yourself wishing that you had something that you
don’t - like friends, or your college life back, or that you could go abroad
again. Of course we all wish that and want that, and 9 times out of 10 we don’t
realize what we have until it’s gone, but that’s all the more reason to plan
another trip or do something else fun and new and exciting.
And along with that, (apologies for sounding preachy) we
should appreciate what we have while
we have it. We should write about it and tell the world about how awesome life
is, while it’s happening. And if life isn’t awesome enough to write about and
brag about, then something needs to change.
Because like I said, the real world doesn’t have to suck if
you don’t let it. But the keyword there is you.
You are supposed to not let it suck. You are in charge of your own
happiness, and only you have the
power to do something about it.
So go get ice cream in your jammies or get a drink on a
Monday night by yourself, or do whatever it is that makes you happy. (Note: I
don’t encourage Monday night trips to the bar by yourself…but I will say that I’ve
done it…)
Because doing anything less than what makes you happy is just a
waste of time.
J
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