Taking it easy after graduation.
So, you’ve thrown the cap, rented the gown, and it may be tempting to ask yourself, what’s next? But I found comfort in taking a moment to appreciate my achievements and instead asked myself, what is here now?
When I left high school, way back in 2011, there was an acclaimed essay doing the rounds called ‘Wear Sunscreen’. It had been remixed into a kind of spoken word song, and it’s opening statement goes like this:
“Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.”
(Mary Schmich, 1997)
Well, in what feels like a full-circle moment, here is my own meandering experience for you:
It’s 7th September 2021 and there’s a heatwave in the UK. I’m getting ready in a hotel room with my partner when I look down at my white blouse only to see blood stains down the front of it. It’s my graduation day. I have a nervous habit of scratching the side of my thumb with my forefinger and I’ve been doing this without realising whilst getting dressed. After a few desperate pleas from me, my partner cleans my shirt - until it’s almost like new - and we go to the park to take photos in the early morning shade of the trees before we’re hit by the heat of the day. This is the day I’ve been working towards for the last three years, and there is a light dew of anti-climax in the air. I’m from a working-class background, the first of my family to get a degree, and I’ve had the best three years of my life studying, travelling, and falling in love. Sitting in the ceremony hall, I’m acutely aware that the best part about having a degree is every moment in the space between starting and finishing. I am so proud when they call my name, relieved that I don’t fall when walking across the stage, and moved to tears at the sound of my friends cheering for me. It’s such a beautiful concoction of emotion.
My advice for new graduates? You can just be for a while.
It’s January 2022, around 3 months into my new job, and I start to reflect on balance: I’ve been more busy than usual for a couple of weeks, leaving me run down and anxious. It suddenly occurs to me that I have a cold and when I really think about it, I realise I haven’t stopped for breath in about 8 months. I’m 27, and I’m still learning what’s best for me in relation to work, rest, and play; still trying to strike the right balance between being challenged or overwhelmed, being excited or nervous, between being inspired to create and allowing my brain to just be and do nothing. It can be easy to have a busy week, fill your weekend with engagements, and then find yourself running low on rest. What a difference a day can make though when you wrap yourself up in a cocoon of zero obligation.
When moments of respite present themselves, I say take them.
From the moment my degree ended I moved quickly into two summer internships and then straight into a full-time job. Sometimes, there is the tendency to think that these kinds of milestones are the sole measure of achievement, especially in relation to academics and work. Of course, my internships were amazing experiences which brought me lots of joy, introduced me to new people, and offered me the confidence and skills to get a new job. For this I couldn’t be more grateful. But can it also be good to spread out the joy, the milestones, the rites of passage? Instead of asking, what next, is there a comfort in considering what is now? I have found that to be exactly the case.
Recently I’ve been taking some time to slow down and reflect on what I created and worked on in 2021, and to just enjoy being for a while. I always wanted to study for a degree; one that would offer a cultural education, allow me to travel, during which I could meet new people, make friends, maybe fall in love, live in a new place. I am ever grateful to have actualised my dream and isn’t this such a rare occasion that it affords me the luxury of sitting back and saying, look at what I’ve made? I think so.
I remember after I finished my first internship, I went to present a poster of my work. I was asked “what will you do next?”. I’ve just done this internship, and I’ve just got a degree and now I’m doing my second placement of the summer. “But how long will that last, what are you going to do after that?”. Well, I’ll be looking for a job… The conversation continued; the questioner was not impressed with my answers. It seemed that to their ears, for now I am just doing this sounded like I’m doing nothing. But I felt either of those answers should have been enough.
You can be kind, smart, important and at the same time unemployed, unsure, or unmotivated. If you’re finding yourself burnt out or bewildered by what next, then try coming back to what you have now. Now, I’m focusing on small wins like stretching, incorporating more movement into my day, reading fiction for pleasure for the first time in years, making porridge in the morning, trying my hand a Japanese cooking, looking at the sky and how the sun casts light and shadow around my city at different times of day.
Go at your own pace, and don’t be afraid to stop for a time.
In fact, there’s a lot of exciting new research emerging that would tell you to do just this: and to even allow yourself to be bored. Boredom can, at times, be your best friend. So, if you’re feeling the heat from the proverbial treadmill, take a breather. Or as Nora McInerny so perfectly put it in this Ted article, say “nothing new for now”, and know that’s okay. You may even find yourself more creative and inspired than before. Imagine that?
Rebecca holds a first class Bsc. Archaeology and Anthropology degree from the University of Central Lancashire. She writes the lifelong learning blog Rebecca’s Research on Instagram, where she curates free learning resources and produces the content series #easyologies. Explore all that binds us and defines us with #easyologies; short video and written thought pieces that cover topics in Archaeology and Anthropology.
If you’re interested in listening to more graduate stories, advice, and good music then you might like Rebecca’s new podcast, Gradually: It’s all about the journey. Leave hustle at the door and go gradually. @graduallypodcast on Instagram. Subscribe and listen on Spotify.
