I’d come to see graduation as a finish line, but I needed to see it as a launching pad.
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It seems like yesterday. I sat in the last row of chairs with my peers and classmates at the commencement ceremony. As my friends were called up to receive their degrees, a sense of dread overshadowed my mind. I’d finished what I’d spent the prior four years working to achieve. Yet I hardly knew what was in front of me. Instead of walking through a wardrobe door into the brilliant light of a new world, I was looking into a dark tunnel of uncertainty. Leaving the comfort of my college surroundings, I headed off to an unknown life. Honestly, I didn’t want to graduate.
For many high school and college graduates, fear and anxiety are pervasive. The questions of “What’s next?” “Where are you going to college?” or “Are you excited to start working in your field?” can be difficult to answer because you don’t know what’s ahead. Completing a significant milestone can lead to worry about whether what you plan to do next is the right thing, or if you’ll have the right stuff to be successful.
