Well folks, it's almost time. In one year, I will be on my way to graduating from college. My long four year matriculation through the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will finally come to an end, at which time I will be thrust into the real world with new knowledge and the capability to create a life for myself. Or, at least that's the hope. In reality, I don't know what in the world I'm going to do with my life come May 2018. I have a few ideas, but none of them seem completely plausible at the moment. And while I should be optimistic about the future, the truth is I feel as though I will be as lost when I graduate as I was when I enrolled.
When I was first thinking about going to college, it felt like my only option. I didn't want to go into the army (although in hindsight, it might have been the best option. It's still an option, but with President Trump in office, I'm not sure it's the safest one), and high school hadn't really given me the tools to go directly into the workforce. So college seemed to be the most logical option. The one skill I had been honing for the past thirteen years was being a student, so four more years of sitting in a classroom and taking notes while avoiding real world responsibilities was music to my ears. And at the time, I did believe that I was going to find a profession that interested me enough to make a career out of. Needless to say, my faith in that ideal has been shaken a bit.
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As the date of my graduation inches ever more closely, I've begun to lay out everything that I could choose to do in life with a degree in English. While there are a number of directions for me to go, none of them seem valid to me right now. I would enjoy making a living out of writing, but I just don't see that working out as a day to day job. I could be thinking to small and should envision myself writing for television shows or being a journalist, but without some type of direction or path to follow, I fear I'd be wandering aimlessly through life with no means of supporting myself. Ultimately, it's a risk I'll have to take if I want to be truly happy in life, but that doesn't eliminate the current doubts and fears I have.
To anyone reading this and thinking I'm just another millennial who can't handle the realities of the world, I'd like to state that I've always known that the real world would be difficult. I've never once thought that things were going to be easy. My complaints stem from a lack of preparation rather than the level of difficulty. I'm completely fine with having to go out and make a living. But I don't think sitting in a classroom, taking notes, and passing tests for nearly two decades has prepared me for any type of career. I'm just saying that the school system might be a little broken. Actually, it's a lot broken.
And those are my current fears about the real world. I do have faith that I'll be able to rise to the occasion, I just don't see how in the hell I'm going to do it exactly. But hey, fear and uncertainty are half the fun of life right? Right!?
Anyway, thanks for reading.
