The Next Step Is...

I would have to say the hardest part of being in your twenties is figuring out what you want. You're always faced with the question of "what next". Is the next step to take the safe route and fulfill a checklist of choices to please your critics or have the courage to experience life on your own terms. We go through years of schooling and essentially prepare ourselves to be the perpetually perfect student that when we reach adulthood it seems like you'll just jump right into the next stages of your life with ease. Wrong. It seems that as soon as you cross that stage and take your degree in hand, every single pair of judgmental spectacles from the baby boomer generation are zeroed in on you. The whole getting a job part is made a little more complicated by a country recovering from a recession and the fact that a young graduate is considered more of an expense than a tax write-off even for a basic minimum wage jobs is frustrating. The next step is complicated by the message that in America you are punished for furthering your education through hundreds of online articles speaking about our "lazy" generation when we all just took out thousands in loans to cover tuition that creeps higher and higher annually for universities across the U.S. While holding down two jobs in the past to pay for school was feasible thirty years ago, it barely covers books, supplies, and technology fees.

The "next step" after graduation is to either hit the lottery or become a ridiculously high paid celebrity for minimal work (Jersey Shore anyone?). Here is a truth I can say right now, there is no game plan! The whole checklist to post grad life isn't relevant. It may work for the few who plan to take over a family business or come from a well connected family but for the rest of us it's marathon run of minimum wage jobs, student loans, and tons of volunteer work just for a chance at an entry level position.

I love and loathe this stage of my life just like everyone else. I recognize this is probably the only time where beer & bread money will be enough to get me through the week, I have a good five more years of maintaining a size 4 while eating off the dollar menu, moving to a completely  different state is possible with enough savings, and there is  still time to discover what I want to do with my life. I won't lie though, this is the time where you really find out how to believe in yourself because interviews coupled with people who are bitter about the changing workforce tend to weigh on you a little bit. If I hear one more piece of advice from someone who has not had to try to find a job in the last twenty years, I swear I'll explode. It's easy to dole out advice when the importance of building company loyalty and snagging college grads were part of business strategies in years past. Now we deal with businesses who don't want anything less than Superman to sort their mail and run errands.

What's next is figuring out who you want to please. You can either decide to dream and work hard or you can settle and get ready for a premature midlife crisis. My personal advice, consider yourself blessed if you are making enough just for beer and bread money. It'll be a few more years before that money has to turn into mortgage and diaper funds.