Graduation. A time to celebrate your achievements, hang out with friends and family and revel in the fact that, yes, you're finally done!
Implicitly, graduation speaks not only of all your past accomplishments, but of the future. Goals, plans... jobs. Everybody keeps asking you, "So, what are you going to do now?" "What are your plans?" "Do you have a job?"
I've been surrounded by these questions for months now. My mom and dad, grandparents, friends, classmates and even professors have all been wondering what I will do after I graduate. (Yes, I admit, I'm also guilty of peppering my classmates with these questions!) And, invariably, the answers are "I don't know." "I'm not sure." "I'm looking for a job, but haven't found what I want yet."
Perhaps you've already made your plans; you know what you want to do after you graduate. You've found a job. You're going to travel, volunteer, join the Peace Corps. You're going to graduate school in the fall.
But many of you - like me, perhaps - may not yet know what your future will bring. And you know what? That's okay, too.
Instead of worrying about what I will do next month, I think I will enjoy these last few weeks with the friends I've met before we disperse to different cities. I'll look forward to my family's visit for graduation. I'll enjoy this city - walking through the Common or Public Garden on a sunny day, shopping on Newbury and having a margarita at Border Caf?© in Harvard Square - not knowing whether I'll be staying here or not.
And yes, I'll continue looking toward my future, making plans. I'll continue to search for the 'right' job - and if I can't find it, I hope to realize that perhaps I won't find the 'right' job right away.
Sometimes you just have to find a job that will be a starting point, that will give you experience and maybe even lead you onto the path toward your dream job.
Things have a way of working out, I think. I'm confident I will find what's right for me. And, if you haven't yet, I'm sure you will too. In the meantime, enjoy graduating; being done with college is a huge accomplishment!
Celebrate yourself, your friends, your family. Look forward to a bright future, even if you're not sure what that future holds. At least that's what I'll be doing... and reassuring my parents of that too!
Congratulations, graduates!
Sara Wilson is a registered dietitian and a graduate student in nutrition communication at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She has a BS in nutrition from Syracuse University and worked as a clinical dietitian prior to coming to Tufts. Wilson is co-editor of Balance.
