I can still remember the feeling of anticipation I felt the weeks before college graduation. I was sick of reading assignments, papers, and I never wanted to look at another syllabus again. I had already choreographed the victory dance I would do across the stage as I accepted my diploma from the college president. My desire to begin adulthood trumped my appreciation for my college education.
But it wasn’t until I was home from college, in the midst of my job search, that someone told me that the first year she spent right out of college was “probably one of the hardest years” of her life. I was starting to see what she meant. I spent many days standing by my phone, praying for a job interview. After I (FINALLY) snagged my first job, I spent many evenings on the phone with customer service representatives, trying to understand exactly what it meant to consolidate student loans. And, after moving out of my parents’ house, I soon experienced the joy of paying bills.
Indeed, I had reached adulthood.
I’m not sure anyone could have fully prepared me for the lessons I have learned, and continue to learn, during this challenging season of life. I have been thankful for the things I have learned through experience, but MAN have I been thankful for the wisdom others have passed on to me and the encouragement I feel when my friends and I relate to one another in our similar experiences.
And that is my hope for this blog: that it may be a channel of support and encouragement to other quarter-life ladies. I know I have some things to share with others. And there have to be some other ladies out there who can share some insight with me as well. So what do you think? What should I write about? What have you learned?
Feel free to leave a comment or shoot an email to quarterlifelady@gmail.com. Thanks!
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5 comments:
Great idea for a blog! I'm a three-quarter life lady, but have two quarter-life daughters! Blessings!
Hey Akirah,
I think it's a great idea to have a blog for women of our age to connect, share, and encourage. I definitely agree with you friend, that this has been one of the hardest years of my life, having graduated from college and transitioned into the "no man's land" of job hunting.
Yeah, great idea; now I have another internet distraction to add to my list! But at least this one is positive and productive. Things you could write about...hmmm. How about:
Not knowing what to do with your life, despite the college degree.
Church hunting (and how easy it is not to even attempt this). And, how important is church for us, really?
Relationships (so many things to say about this one...)
Balancing life-job, friends (new and old), boyfriend, family.
Money. Budgets. Bills.
Staying healthy physically. What is the standard? What is reasonable considering our crazy schedule and the fact we already feel overwhelmed much of the time?
Relationship with God. What does this even look like? How do we cultivate this? Where is the balance between the work and it just happening?
Ok, that's probably more than enough suggestions. As you can see, I've been feeling the weight of a lot (as all of us have)
xoxo
Rachel Smith
great idea! how about -
how to live with your thoughts now that there's not as many distractions?? (lack of college activities, etc.)
finances. should we kill ourselves to pay off the loans and everything else??
relationships - yeah, lots to discuss on this one.
remaining connected with college friends but also freeing yourself to move on with a new chapter.
can't wait to hear what you come up with!
Hope all is well!! :)
Ok, I'll add my say to the mix. (I agree with the suggested topics of the others, btw.)
I also have a piece of advice that I learned the hard way that you can work in somewhere: when you move from one apartment to another, you need A LOT of extra cash on hand. A good estimate might be $1000, but I figured somewhere around three times as much money as you are used to spending in a month is probably a good way to calculate it. Didn't know that going into a move . . .
In other mundane matters, I didn't realize what a pain health insurance and making sure you have it is.
Finding a church, staying connected, finding time to work out . . . I'll reiterate these.
Ok- that's all for now :)
(Good idea for a blog, by the way!)
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