16 Realities We Must All Face After Graduating From College

1. The pressure to find a job ASAP!

Nobody wants a couch potato at home. Our parents may have even kicked us out of their flat! Now’s the time to work those charms and claim a big, fat paycheck.

2. The little help that our savings actually provides.

No, our college fund isn’t enough to get us through the first 10 years after school, but being financially literate will! Invest those extra savings on stocks and bonds, and you might just find yourself working on Wall Street one of these days.

3. Paying off student loans.

This has to be the biggest debt we owe anyone at this point in time, and we’ve got about 5-10 years to pay it off? We have to get those paychecks coming!

4. Learning how to make food that isn’t ramen or canned goods.

I seriously admire people who know how to cook at a young age. Graduating and moving out of the dorm meant learning to survive on our own, and that meant no more ready-to-cook meals for dinner.

5. The real world is a heartless bitch.

Everyone has to agree with this. Fairytales are only meant to exist in books.

6. Not knowing exactly what you want to do with your life.

Nobody expects us to know what we want to do in life right away. We could always use more time — time to grow up and find ourselves.

7. Traveling and soul searching go well with each other.

A month of soul searching to finally jumpstart your life isn’t bad at all. We all need those alone times with a breathtaking view or a crazy adventure before buckling down.

8. We cannot afford to waste any more time.

We may have wasted time partying, drinking and the likes back in college, but we can’t afford to lose any more time now. Every choice and decision is only between now or never.

9. We didn’t sign up for failure and a quarter-life crisis.

Nope, college didn’t prepare us for this, but we have to face this one way or another.

10. Choosing between working for passion and working for money.

Our biggest problem as of this moment, but my take on this is to do something you love to do (regardless of the economic value). We don’t want to become mere slaves for others.

11. The fact that some of us end up in a different field of work than we hadn’t initially intended.

Remember the place where you interned? Well, sadly, your job isn’t as pretentious or as glamorous as that one. You either choose to do the job you love to do, choose the job with a higher compensation, or just take any job that’s offered to you because you desperately need some money.

12. We have an unending need to be independent, yet we still cling to our parents for support.

Moving out, getting a job and other things that make us rightful owners of the “adult” title won’t make us any less of a kid wither. Unless we take thoughtful steps to change this behavior, we’ll always be those young and reckless kids who would go back to our parents’ nest at the end of the day.

13. Our heightened need to find someone to spend the rest of our lives with.

Nobody wants to die alone, unless you live in a cave. We’re beings of emotions and connection to one another is an essential human trait. We inherently want to see our kids and grandchildren by our side, on our deathbed.

14. Taking on responsibilities and actually following through with them.

Taking on responsibilities isn’t just like a walk in the park, it requires commitment and dedication; after all, life is a double-edged sword.

15. The fact that only we can secure our own future.

Those billionaires by the age of 40? Well, we have to be better than them, and that means a lot more hard work and perseverance.

16. Coming face to face with some of the biggest decisions we’ll ever make with regards to our future.

Be it our career path, moving to a new country or marrying at a young age, these things are the life-defining moments that will change our future. We can’t afford to make the wrong move.