Letter to Future Grads

Wow! It's already the beginning of the month of May! Dang, time flies with a blink of an eye!

With some friends getting ready to graduate with LESS than one week away, I've decided to send my letter to them as they prepare for one of the most important days of their lives! It's the end of one destination but the beginning of a new journey!

Dear Future Graduate,

First of all, congratulations!!!! I am so happy for you! Whether you are a graduate of my Alma mater, Winthrop University in rockin' Rock Hill, South Carolina or a part of a university somewhere else, you are about to embark on a new journey that you will never seem to feel well-prepared for! Graduating from undergrad is such a freeing and refreshing experience. No more papers, final exams, short breaks, and long school days... unless you go straight into graduate school. I know you all are so ecstatic and I don't blame you. I was just there exactly one year ago. I don't at all plan on busting your bubble in this letter but I have to tell you the truth. What is glimmer isn't always gold... 

Graduating from school is not all the hype it's made out to be. It is awesome and you will enjoy it but sometimes you expect it to be a little more than what it turns out to be. Those papers you don't write anymore turn into reports, newsletters/e-mails, and records. Those final exams turn into important deadlines and bills. Those short breaks are nonexistent and those long school days turn into longer work days. You'll have no social life during the weekday and you'll find yourself in the bed, sleep by midnight. Long nights of catching up with friends and going out for drinks with colleagues (pretty much trying to have a social life) end up an early morning of regret and lack of sleep. Speaking of friends, where did they go? Everyone is spread out and also living their own lives. You start to live by a schedule and new routine as the day goes by.

These are things you know to be true while in college but now you no longer have school as an excuse. You HAVE to make it to work on time, you HAVE to pay your bills, you HAVE to find a way to balance work and social life, and you HAVE to actually be a citizen of civic engagement. You hit the adult life if not the day after, maybe a week or so after. You may spend long months job searching and finding out that they do not hire as quickly as the bills pile up. Resumes and follow-ups soon turn into crumble papers, tears, and a dark cloud of depression and disappointment in the distance.

I'm writing this letter to tell you, don't go in the direction of that cloud. Don't let the fear of failure consume your mind or the floods of doubts drown out your accomplishments and talents. You are smart! You graduated from college and if you went to Winthrop University, you graduated with silkworms in your hair and Thomson food or Popeyes in your belly. You are a college graduate which a lot of people cannot say that: some decided the latter and some dropped out. I get it; things happen! You've debated selling drugs, standing out on a street corner, and calling for a sugar daddy... We all joked about it. I mean, we did pay a fortune to go to school! It was an investment and experience that was well worth it! Do not lose sight of that. 

You are talented, confident, ambitious, diligent, and so much more. Don't let society tell you to put your dreams and ambitions on hold. Don't let society tell you that you should have a 9 to 5 job immediately when you graduate. Don't let society pressure you into getting married and having children if you aren't ready. Don't let society tell you to be yourself and rob you of your authenticity! You defy society! 

If it even takes you working 3 part-time jobs to fund your dream, do it. Sometimes it takes you being uncomfortable, if only for a moment, for you to be placed when you really want to be. Now you might have read this letter and said, "well, that's just your experience" and yeah, some of this was but that does not invalidate any of the statements above. These are some warnings I wish I would've taken more serious when I heard it. If this ends up not being your testimony, that's amazing! If it ends up being your testimony, it's okay. Just remember that God is ALWAYS in control and will NEVER leave you or forsaken you. It's very important for you to know and believe that. You will have different journeys and destinations throughout life and not always have a road map to get you to the next place but know that you will be okay and you will make it through all of life's ups, downs, and twists and turns. You are AWESOME! And I pray for continued blessings, strong faith, and God's overwhelming love!

Sincerely,
AMC