by Laura Callaghan

College is often labelled as “the best years of your life.” I mean, a whole three years of drinking, living with your squad and not facing up to real adult responsibilities is pretty damn hard to beat, let’s be honest.

It’s not exactly a surprise that people wanna hold on to the days of £1.50 shots and sleeping in ‘til noon, but eventually this fantasy phase of post-adolescence has to come to a grinding hault.

And well, then what? You suddenly go from the comfort of your college bubble and are thrust into the world of tedious job applications, nagging parents and your overdraft debut.

Throughout my years at school, I strongly recall being asked what I wanted to be when I was older, and I could always answer straight away.

Sure, my responses were always different and were totally batsh*t crazy, but I was still always expected to know. Princess, pop star, dragon trainer, astronaut – you know the drill, I was bloody invincible.

I’ve never really been told that it was okay to not know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I was never told that a lack of direction was normal, that it was fine. It was always presented as a weakness to me.

That’s the thing with our generation – we’ve all grown up in society where we pretend to have our sh*t together all the time. NEWSFLASH: we don’t.

If you’re in the lucky category of people that have a solid plan after college, then that’s amazing. But if you legit have no idea, that’s seriously nothing to be ashamed about.

Everyone is worried about leaving uni and entering what is ultimately ‘the real world’. Your course mates, your housemates and all of your pals from back home all have the exact same anxieties running through their heads.

How do mortgages work anyway? Why the hell am I being asked about my pension scheme? And WTF do I do if I’m unemployed forever? I’ve been asking myself the same questions for about two months now and I still don’t know the answers to any of my erratic ponderings.

No matter how nerve-wracking (and emotional) it is to wave goodbye to your uni experience, I genuinely believe the best is still yet to come. There are so many things I haven’t done, so many things I have to try and a ridiculous amount of time I have to do so.

If you want to spend the summer just figuring things out then do it! You’re in your twenties, there isn’t a ticking time limit to when you need to start your career. If you fancy travelling, get your backpack and go! And if you’re already planning on becoming the next girl boss and wanna rule the world – hell go for that too!

It’s okay to be anxious, it’s okay to be scared. Stop putting pressure on yourself and enjoy what’s coming around the corner. Yeah, it’s unknown, but that’s what makes it so damn exciting.

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