Adulting Ahead

If you haven’t already seen the slightly sleepy and delirious vlog I made with Alanna at William & Mary’s Homecoming discussing the peaks and valleys of post-college life, I highly recommend you do that now!

Otherwise, I’m going to dive right into a few more thoughts on “Adulting” because even though I was SO TIRED when we filmed that video from a day full of travel and nostalgia, we started to hit on a lot of topics that I realize I have more insight into now! Within a few months of graduating (and job searching), I made this video about post-college life which makes me laugh now at how young and naive I was!

At this point, I was definitely experiencing some of the disappointment of post-college life (especially in 2012 when the economy and the job market was just starting to get its feet back under itself!) But I didn’t know what it was like to work a full-time job yet. I didn’t know what it was like to rent an apartment or make car payments or see my friends go off on different tracks of life and at different speeds.

Now while I definitely don’t feel like I have this “adulting” thing fully under control quite yet, I do think I know A LOT more than I did at 22/23 when I’d only been a year out of college and was slowly adjusting to post-college life. I know how to call the insurance company and get my car fixed if after having a wreck (both when it’s my fault and someone else’s!) I know what it’s like to do long-distance adult dating. (It sucks…) I know what it’s like to have to live with your parents because you are poor and jobless, and what it’s like when you’ve lived there a little bit TOO long and you feel like you’re going insane and wondering if you’re 16 or 26.  I know what it’s like to job-search the heck out of yourself and what it’s like to move to a new city for a job. I definitely know a lot more about all this practical adult stuff (and I find that I’m still learning everyday), but I’ve also learned so much about what it’s like to emotionally be an adult.

Yeah, I know that sounds all “mushy-gushy-feelings” or whatever, but I think one of the things I was least prepared for was how “adulting” would affect me emotionally.  With practical tasks like job-searching and apartment hunting and dealing with your insurance, if I didn’t know what I was doing, I could call a parent or grandparent or friend who knew more than me. They could walk me through the steps, remind me of the questions I’d need to ask, and give me the general low-down.  What calling in backup couldn’t do though is prepare me for the crippling self-doubt that comes along with just about every new decision and situation I find myself in as I navigate this world of adulthood. So emotionally I’ve had to do A LOT of learning and growing over the last few years, and I think it’s this aspect of adulting that high-achievers like myself are so ill-equipped for when we leave college.

Which is why I want to start making more post-college and “adulting” advice videos on my YouTube channel. iIMAGINEblank seems to grow with me, and now we’re moving into a space where I have more advice for young adults rather than teens. (Though don’t worry! They’ll always be advice for teens too!) So I’m wondering: what your post-college questions? Whether they’re questions you actually have because you’re nervous about the future or you are an adult but would like to know my take on a particular post-college/adulting topic. Basically what kinds of topics should be in my “Adulting Library?”  Let me know in the comments and you might just see a video about it soon (with a shout-out for your suggestion, of course)!