Graduating college sucks. You go from having your life planned out to having your life up in the air. You not only have to say bye to seeing friends all the time, but you have to say bye to friends in general. You have to learn to exist on your own in the world and chances are, you're not thrilled.
But fear not -- being a college graduate isn't as bad as it seems. In fact, there are tons of perks to being an adult and tons of things to look forward to. Here are a few.
1. Having money.
Having a job means having money. And by money, we mean real money -- not the money you made from your part-time on-campus job or your internship. We mean real money from a real salary. Even if you have to give most of it to loans or other bills, you're at least one step closer to paying things off, and you're building your credit, which even though this sounds like a snoozefest, is actually a reallllly good thing for the future. Also, doesn't it feel badass to be able to pay for things with your own money? Soon enough you'll be going on vacations and drinking premium liquors. Look at you, almost being an adult!
2. Going out to all sorts of different places and not just your go-to 'college bars.'
When I was in college, there were two bars people went to. Then I graduated, and there were tons of bars I could go to (okay, maybe 5-10 "good ones," but it was better than two). You don't have to go to 'college bars' anymore. I mean, you still can, but you can also go to after college bars, which include every single bar in existence. Options galore.
3. Having time to watch TV.
You won't have to spend all your free time studying (or partying) anymore because 'free time' will be when you aren't working (or partying) -- which will most likely be every day after work and every minute of every weekend not spent at da club. Get ready to embrace chilling on the couch watching all of the TV. Soon enough you'll prefer that lifestyle instead of going out, but don't worry, that won't happen for a while.
4. Losing weight and/or getting in shape.
You probably won't be drinking as much as you did when you were in college (or maybe you will, idk), and your eating habits will most likely get better too because you won't be limited to food from the dining hall and microwavable meals. You'll have somewhat of a routine (and money!) once you start working, which will help you stick to a healthy diet, unlike the unplanned drinking fest that was college. You'll also have time to workout and money to invest in your hot bod. What you won't have: the alcohol and unhealthy sleeping schedule to screw it all up.
5. Spending time with family.
If you swore off contact with anyone except vodka, pizza, and your bed for four years, now is your chance to redeem lost relationships. That means catching up with family! Sure, you might have called your parents 10x a day between classes during college, but now you can hang out on the reg. Same with your siblings, and even your friends from high school. They were fam once too, right?
6. Meeting new people.
You might be thinking #NoNewFriends right now, but soon enough that will fade. Your true friends will always remain, whether they're from college or high school, but you will most likely lose a good chunk of friends. And that's not a bad thing. It's life. Remember how many people you were friends with when you went off to college four years ago? Yeah, they're not all still around right? The same thing will happen four years from now probably, so never stop making friends. You never know who you'll meet next!
7. Finding out what you love and making a living doing what you love.
I'm not sure if anyone ever 'finds themselves' or 'gets their shit together,' but one thing is for sure -- you can figure out what you love to do and attempt to make a career out of it. From the jobs I've held and the side hustles I've managed over the past six years, I've learned what I enjoy doing and what I don't enjoy doing. I'm sure I'll continue learning as I progress through my career, but for now I can piece together what I love doing to create my ultimate job, and that's pretty cool. After all, the goal of life is not to have a job, but to do what you love, because once you start doing what you love full-time, you'll never work a day again in your life.