Life After Death
Delving Into, and Dealing with, Life as a Post-Graduate
Bottomless tequila shots, guilt-free hangovers, and less contact hours than Kim K and her baby. What's not to love about university? Ok, so the deadlines are deadly, and pesto pasta is beginning to lose its charm, but it still beats working nine-to-five, as Dolly Parton would say.
Of course, each experience of university is different. For me, it was three blissful years of sea shanties, Cornish pasties, and clubs with carpets. Vive la Falmouth. But whether your experience was a greasy kebab in Leeds, or a river-walk in Cambridge, We can all agree on one thing; university life is a tough act to follow.
So how can we follow it? How can we beat the post-grad blues? I'm no expert, but here are a few things that got me down, and a few things that got me through.
1. Stay Independent
Undoubtedly one of the hardest things about graduating was my relocation from la casa del party, to la casa del parents. Gone were the late night chats, food fights and chunder charts; in their place, cleaning rotas and stilted family dinners. This adjustment made me feel rather like Tom Hanks in the movie Big (quite out of place). After a few months of Slimming World meals and endless chores, I came to a realisation. Just because I live at home again, doesn't mean I can't be independent. I cleared out a cupboard and filled it with my own food shop, began cooking my own meals, and often cooking for my family. I thought of myself as more of a tenant than a family member, so did my own washing, and kept my own life as much as possible. These were mostly small gestures, but they kept me from feeling like a teenager again.
2. Give Yourself Purpose
A common pitfall of post-grad life is the feeling of having no real purpose. This is a feeling that I am all too familiar with. For the first time in your life, there is no set plan, no education, and no excuse for being lazy. At first, I was only too happy to indulge in this notion, waking up past noon and bingeing Netflix until the early hours of the evening. "A well deserved break," I told myself. A few weeks of this, and an unsettling feeling of emptiness began to creep in. Reruns of How I met Your Mother became vacuous as my focus turned to the unfulfilling nature of my days. I allowed myself to wallow in this thought for a while (dangerous), before deciding to get off my arse and do something about it. I started by volunteering, before finding a local job. I began doing plenty of exercise, finding particular satisfaction in yoga and badminton. I decided that each day should have at least one productive element, today's being this article. This idea of purpose gave my days a focus and direction, successfully keeping the post-grad blues at bay. Would recommend.
3. Don't Be a Prisoner
The end of university also seemed to mean the end of my social life, as friends old and new moved back to every corner of the country. The highlight of my social calendar became Sunday night viewings of Dancing on Ice with my mum. Being a social person by nature, this is one I really struggled with. It was only when professing my misery on the old group chat, that I realised we're all in the same boat. My friends mostly moved home themselves, and were all suffering the same withdrawals as me. Ignoring the slight bashing to our bank accounts, we began planning reunions and meet-ups, filling our days with phone calls and messages. Whilst this wasn't a permanent solution to a lack of social life, it gave us all something to look forward to, even if it was only once in a month.
4. Remind Yourself It's Not Forever
With the memory of university fading more each day, it can be very easy to feel disparaged at the thought of this new chapter in your life. When this happens, it's important to remember that nothing is permanent. Give it 6 months, a year, and things will change. Apply for jobs like your life depends on it, talk to friends about the possibility of moving away, and keep planning your way forward. It'll happen sooner or later.
Good luck, and congradulations (sorry, I had to).
About the Creator
Gemma Hanham
21 // Post Grad // Flexing my writing skills
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.