Life As A Young Adult Perfectly Summed Up In Two Tweets

Dillon Cheverere8 years ago

Young @DrewRich_ hitting us with some real life shit this holiday season.

September 18, 2011: Future looking bright.
November 21, 2016: Fuck.

For whatever reason, I get a ton of emails from college students and new graduates asking me for school and/or career advice. This is ridiculous for several different reasons.

1. I was an undeclared major for way too long.
2. I didn’t settle on a major until 2.5 years into college.
3. My grades were average.
4. I transfered.
5. I graduated in five years with literally zero plans for after college.
6. I switched careers four years after graduating.

And am I crazy for thinking my series of events is more common than having a plan from day one of college, sticking to it, graduating on time, and going into the career field you had planned for all along? I don’t think so. Now certainly there is a spectrum of scenarios between these two, and granted these two scenarios are on or close to either end of it, but I’d wager a paycheck that more people fall closer to my end than @DrewRich_’s initially intended one.

In a weird way, I was lucky that I was a self-aware asshole with no direction. I knew I was a clueless, 18-year-old moron who had no idea what the future would bring, so I didn’t commit to anything and figured it out as I went. I don’t think this is the best approach, at all, but I had little letdown along the way because of it and kept an open mind throughout college. My goals were basically to find a job and stack paper. I just didn’t know how I’d go about doing that when I was 18. Or 19. Or 23.

I do try to lend some advice to the people who ask for it, though. I first preface it by saying I didn’t have anything figured out at their age. I then tell them that they’ll find their path somewhere along the way as long as they keep grinding. You weren’t the same person at 18 or 19 that you will be at 23 or 24, and you’ll be drastically different at the age of 35, you know when you might have a family and a mortgage and a whole new world of responsibilities.

You don’t have to have it all figured out as a young adult, and even if you think you have it figured out, shit will change. It’s guaranteed to. Life takes you in unexpected directions. So change your major, transfer schools, join the military, start selling crank on the streets — it doesn’t mean you’ve lost your way. It’s part of figuring out who the hell you are, and who you’re going to be.

I didn’t intend for this to get deep, by the way. I don’t know what’s wrong with me..

[via Twitter/ @DrewRich_]