To the Fresh Grads

I have friends who graduated this year, and I know some of them are confused with what to do next or pressured to get a job. I graduated in 2016, and I still remember exactly how I felt at the time. After graduation, I told myself I won't apply for a job just yet. I want to savor that last summer vacation. I also wanted to relax and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment because I graduated when I almost thought I wouldn't. 

I think only my friends in college know about this, but on my last sem, I thought I wouldn't be able to graduate on time. It's a long story, but I'll tell you the short version of it. I have an incomplete in one major subject for the 1st sem and that meant I couldn't enroll 2 subjects for the 2nd sem—including the internship. Almost everyone in our class was processing their graduation papers already, and I have yet to enroll 2 subjects when the enrollment period for that semester has long been over. It wasn't easy, especially because I've never had a failed subject before that, so I had no idea what to do. Luckily, I was still able to enroll those subjects and graduate on time. Huge thanks to Sir Distor, our Department Head for helping me all the way and to Sir Mallari, our Dean for the support. 

After graduation, the first 2-3 months of doing nothing was fun. I graduated the same year as my cousin so we get to do whatever we wanted together, spending most of our time watching movies and hanging out with our other cousins. After the summer though, I started feeling like I have to do something already. Most of my classmates are reviewing for the boards, others started working and I was still doing nothing but stay up late to watch movies and tv series. My cousin also got a job, and I was still having a hard time looking for one. No one was pressuring me to get a job, but there are still moments when I felt useless because I know I could be doing something with my time.

I then got a job March of 2017. After a few weeks of working, I realized that maybe I was meant to not get a job until that time. You see, at one point towards the end of 2016, I had to stay with my sister in Cavite. And on December of that year, just before the new year, my dad passed away. When I started working, I would leave the house very early in the morning, and come home really late that I rarely see my siblings at home. When I thought about it, I realized I would've lost so much time with my dad had I started working right after graduation. I'm telling this story to say that everything happens for reason. I know it's so cliché, I know it's tiring to hear it, especially when you can't see even a glimpse of that reason yet. Sometimes it will take weeks, months, sometimes it will take a very long time, but eventually, you will know. And when you know, you'll be glad that things happened the way it did. 

So to those who just graduated, relax, you will get to that next milestone soon.