MICHELLE JUERGEN | editor-in-chief
“What are you going to do once you graduate?”
If hearing that question makes you want to punch the person who asked it in the face, join the club. I want to cry every time someone asks me that because I don’t know.
My dad is bugging me to send out my resume because “it’s good to get it out early in these bad economic times.” My professors are pushing me to consider grad school because “it’s a good time to stay in school in these bad economic times.” My German grandparents keep telling me to move to Sweden because I “can get a good job there since America is having bad economic times.”
Sense a pattern here? If I’m not continually being told how hard it’s going to be to find a job, I’m being told it’s actually impossible to get one.
Ask any senior what they’re going to do come graduation, and you’ll either get a panicked look, a shrug or a blatant lie and a mumble about optimism.
Constant banter about the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” makes me feel great depression. (A little perspective: the U.S. 2008 unemployment rate was about six percent. In 1932, it was over 20 percent).
Where I used to think “I can get any job I want,” I now think “Oh God, no one will hire me. I’m going to have to sell my blood to make an income.”
The days when I told my parents I wanted to be an astronaut and they said “You can do anything you put your mind to” are gone. Now all I hear are dismal statistics and pessimistic outlooks.
Where’s Nike when you need them? “Just do it,” I tell myself daily. “Put yourself out there and you will be successful.” When I’m the only one encouraging myself to look at my future positively, there’s something wrong.
The negativity about the economy that I read in the news, hear on TV and listen to in people’s conversations is skewing my perspective.
I’ve become petrified of everything that’s in front of me. I’m so scared of failing that I’m hesitant to even bother looking for a job. I’m terrified of living an unfulfilled life because no one will give me a job, much less a job I actually want.
When I feel this onset of panic, I have to remind myself I’m only 21. I have my whole life to pursue everything I want to accomplish. The places I want to go, the people I want to build relationships with and the things I want to experience will be there when it’s time.
My responsibility now is to pursue my aspirations and trust I will end up where I’m supposed to. I have the choice of standing on my tiptoes, trying to look far ahead at what I can’t see, or looking down at where my feet are planted right now and enjoying it.
I choose the cheesy: one day at a time.
