NubianNadja’s tips to dealing with post grad life

 There isn’t too much discussion about what happens after college. Everyone just celebrates the success of getting a degree while continuing to “pray” for that person.  The infamous question“ what are you gonna do now?” is asked more than anything. But, what if you don’t know? There will be a time after celebrating a monumental  milestone where reality kicks in and “what are you gonna do now?” turns into “am I doing anything right?” Post-grad depression gets to the best of everyone. From personal experience, I’m still trying to adjust three months later. Graduating summa cum laude, with a resume filled with experience and various independent work with no job offers in my field, hurts a lot. I have days where I’m ready to pick myself up and days where I lose all motivation to do anything.  It’s all a mental process only few can handle. I’m still feeling the effects of post-grad life but I’ve found a few ways to cope with the transition:

Have faith in yourself-  The faith I’m talking about is not in a higher power but more so in YOURSELF. It sounds cliche, but no dream is too big to accomplish.   Have faith in your abilities and strength. Someone is always watching and will notice! Energy transfers and negativity can show on the outside. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can someone ever know what you have to offer? “Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work.”- Kevin Hart.

Invest in what you believe in- Start that blog, buy that camera, make that YouTube channel, apply for that job. Invest in yourself ! Just because you have a bachelors doesn’t mean the learning stops. Educate yourself on the steps it may take to get into that dream career. Read self-motivating books like “You are a badass”. Listen to interviews about your inspirations to see how they started. It always best to volunteer and freelance or even find a mentor. Do whatever it takes to get all the professional knowledge and experience outside of college to elevate you to the next level.

Keep a journal or diary- Another cliche, but writing is very therapeutic. If you don’t wanna write down feelings, write out goals; short and long term. Write down daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly goals and keep track of what you’re doing to get closer to that goal. If you’re not into writing, record yourself in a video or voice memo. Reflect back on that recording in a month or two. A huge change could’ve happened that major “problem”.

Limiting the time on social media- Being in post-grad depression and watching the same people who graduated with you post pictures on vacations, office spaces,  parties, views from an airplane “living their best life” while your sitting at home hoping this is the day for a callback can mess up your mind. It’s best to limit the time on social media because a person can EASILY start comparing themselves to someone else not knowing how hard that person worked to flaunt their success.

Mental health apps- There are some apps I’ve downloaded that has helped me with keeping my mental health together. My favorite app is called Calm. It helps me alot with meditation and reducing stress for better sleep and HAS WORKED. People tend to have their mind on a million things a day but take the time to meditate even for 30 minutes. It could help reduce the anxiety that builds up when handling stressful situations. I also use daily affirmation apps like Sprinkle of Jesus and She who is called. Small messages throughout the day are the reassurance I might need to get through this rough time.