An open letter to the new graduates
Hope the universe makes happiness fall onto your lap! You can stop reading now.
For the others – buddies, friends, dost, amigos; welcome to this side of the world. This is for the unsure and the skeptical. If you're feeling lost, I have more incomplete road maps to throw your way. This isn't a story about how the future is actually burning bright. It's a whole lot worse than you can imagine. The good news is, you will be able to suck it up for most part, and some times it might feel nice and enjoyable. If you can stay away from the dark vortex of nostalgia, you can be sort- of-almost content. These are just my findings and observation that might help you not freak out (too much).
You've Graduated.
An estimated 9 million people graduated in India last year. Unless you have a very different definition of special, it really isn't. There are a lot of graduates doing average things, and there are a lot of drop-outs doing amazing things. Don't let being a graduate define who you are. You will feel like you are lost in the crowd. Use it as a qualification, but never to prove anything to yourself. You are better than that.
The time after college is also when you realise how uniform things were up until now. There were checks and balances (mostly found annoying) to keep things in place. A sense of order in progression of class, the uniforms (or dress codes). The only mode of comparison between you and your batch-mate were marks or extra-curricular prizes. And that's it! After college, all that disappears. You know how people say marks don't really matter in the real world? Turn out they are right. You and your friends will suddenly have very less in common. Maybe they decided to study more, and are still in the student bubble. Maybe they have a job they love. Maybe they take a year off to figure things out. Maybe they make a lot more money. Nothing you do will be on the same frequency and that will feel strange. There's a whole lot of 'grass is always greener' possibilities. And they probably feel the same way too.
You will get a lot of advice. Empty advice, some persistent advice and some good advice. It's telling the difference between which is which that is tricky. Many people will have an opinion on what you should do. Pretty much everyone will want to help you, or what they think is helping. Don't be too skeptical about it and give a good ear to what they have to say, because their words come from a place of experience. You don't have to act on it, but there is no harm in listening. And this brings us to the next point, goals. Pretend to have goals. No one knows what they are doing with their life most of the time. People have priorities and dreams and desires that are all mystically tangled up like earphones in a pocket. Pretending to have goals is a matter of perception control, it makes the question 'what do you want to do with your life?' easier to answer. After you exit your twenties, you can stop pretending because a) you might just figure out the real answer to it or b) people will stop caring about the answer. You will have only yourself to answer to. Be okay with yourself. Be okay with your work, your relationships, your money or lack of. You've graduated, use what you have learnt. Use your timeliness in your work ethic (whether working for yourself or someone else), use your 'procrastination off' button to meet deadlines, meet or text your friends, watch all those illegally downloaded movies you were putting off because of assignments. A lot changes but a lot also stays the same. Tell me if you think this is true, or of its horse-shit. or what your experience was.
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