Welcome to your new life….. the post-grad version. While there are so many new freedoms and means for excitement, there are also a lot of things that come along with it that most of us forget about. My parents did their best to prepare me for “adult life” and what paying bills, being on my own, and working a full-time job would be like. It's one of those things you never really grasp until you’re thrown right into it. While I love life and all the adventures it’s taken me on, I, like many new grads, have faced the hard truth of reality.
In college, I spent my days running around campus from class to class, grabbing coffee or lunches with my friends spontaneously throughout the day. That’s not the case anymore. Life looks a lot different. It took some time for me to adjust to being a remote employee and working from home. That was probably the biggest hurdle I faced. I found ways to stay social by planning lunches throughout the week or working from coffee shops or outside. Implementing a change of scenery helped shift my perspective of loneliness.
As someone who works from home, I think it’s important to find a structure and balance that works for you. To be fully transparent, I am not a morning person and I have tried every rule in the book but it’s just not for me. My incentive to wake up to my alarm is that I don’t make myself get fully ready as soon as I wake up. I also always look forward to my morning coffee. I’ve found that I like to start my mornings off with slower tasks to get my brain going. Being disciplined in a routine is hard when you aren’t required to physically be anywhere each day but it’s something worth sticking to.
For a typical day, I get up and work from home for about half the day. The second half of the day is when I get ready and change up my working environment. This helps me to feel motivated for the second half of my work day. The beauty of working a remote job is that my working hours are flexible. I am someone whose creativity comes alive at night, so some days I will adjust my working hours to spend more time in the evening to focus on projects. It truly is different for each person and I love that aspect of freedom when it comes to working from home!
As you leave college, give yourself grace and the time to adjust to your new life. Everyone has had to figure it out at some point and now it’s our turn. Make friends on your team who will encourage and give you advice on how to do “adult life;” it is a game changer. Within a healthy company culture, your co-workers want to see and help you strive and be successful in all areas of your life. No one is going to jump right into the professional world and have it all figured out. It is going to take time and that is okay. Day by day, you will get your footing and eventually feel confident in yourself and the position you hold on your team.
My favorite quote I challenge you all to hold tight is from Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Remember this throughout your days when you begin to doubt yourself: you are doing better than you think!
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