Life Lessons I Have Learned as a New College Graduate.

Life has a funny way of working sometimes. After a semester-long break from blogging in order to graduate (yay!), I am finally back and so excited to begin sharing more content regularly. When I decided to take this semester off from blogging due to my heavy spring semester course load, I had no idea how much I would actually miss writing. If you follow along over on Instagram, you might have seen I still kept up with a lot of things over there like nothing had changed. However, so much of me realized how much I depend on writing to internalize the things I’m feeling and learning, which really made an impact on me this past semester.

I graduated on Mother’s Day weekend with a Bachelor of Science in International Apparel Marketing and Merchandising with minors in Entrepreneurship, Spanish, and Business. Through the last four years, I have grown in so many ways, whether I expected those changes or not. I count it as such a gift for the opportunity to have made lifelong friends during my time at the University of Missouri.

Shortly after graduation I made a quick transition, as I am spending the summer working in St. Louis for the women’s clothing company Soft Surroundings in their e-commerce department. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to learn about the industry that I love and put the business skills and classes that I learned while in school into practice.

There are a few things I want to share, because, after a recent Instagram poll, I saw just how many of my blog readers and Instagram followers are college-aged. All I know is, there are some things that I wish I would have known before I graduated college, or even closely after. If you’re also stressing out about an upcoming transition into adulthood, or you’re currently experiencing it, here are a few of the most important things I’ve learned so far…

• The paperwork matters.

• • I really wanted to throw in a healthy mix of fun and practical tips, so here’s one that’s a bit more serious. Figure out paperwork. As soon as I graduated, I suddenly had so many things I needed to do when it came to paperwork. Whether you have to work on forms to be eligible for your new company’s insurance, figure out your 401k, or even change banks to find one that suits you best, there is a plethora of paperwork that comes with becoming an adult and/or starting a new career. Make sure you’re taking it seriously and not procrastinating.

• Change is okay.
• • College was such a pivotal time of change for me and many of my friends, but sometimes that change is hard to accept by others. Whether it’s high school friends or family members, sometimes those close to us have a hard time with our changes because they either don’t agree with them or they feel like they just don’t understand us. Sometimes, it makes it feel like that change is bad, when in reality, change is something that is so important and necessary in the human experience. I want to emphasize how much I changed over the course of my college career. From my personal style, to friends, to opinions on life, there are just so many things that changed. While some of those changes were for the better, others were simply different, neither better nor worse. First of all, I want to let you know, that is okay. If I am the only person that tells you, I want you to know. We are meant to change, because it means we are learning and growing.

• Don’t Forget Why You Started.

• • I took some time after graduation to really think about why I came to college and why I selected the major I did in the first place. At least for me, the stress of graduation and trying to figure my life out got in the way of me thinking about my goals and dreams for a while. Sometimes your passion for a topic or industry can get dulled over time if you’re not careful. This concept seems to be very common with many of my friends as well, but it takes a lot of intentional thinking to not let it bring you down.

Those are just a few of the many things I’ve learned since I’ve been a college graduate, but I know there are even more lessons that come every single day. I’m so thankful to be able to have this platform to share what I’m learning and what’s on my heart. Let me know if you too are a new college graduate and what kinds of things you’re learning, too!

Much love!

Olivia