How to navigate your life after college


You’ve come to the end of your college days, and now you’re faced with dealing with the rest of your life, no pressure. For many students, the thought of life after college can seem pretty daunting, but there are some tips we can share with you to help get you through the adjustment period while still keeping a smile on your face.

What if you aren’t ready?

You can always think about taking a year to travel the world, get some perspective on life and come back ready and willing to make the most of your college degree. Many people choose to go abroad to South America, Asia, or Europe to see what else is out there in the big wide world. After all, do you really want to start working straight away and then possibly never get the chance to see as much of the world as possible? Taking time straight out of college is perfect as you won’t yet have a job you need to take a vacation from and you can stay away as long as you feel you need to.

How to navigate your life after college

Learn to budget

It sounds pretty boring but learning to budget is going to ensure you can have plenty of good times while still holding down a fulltime job. You should try to live within your means to make sure you don’t go broke months after getting your first job. You’re going to have to think about paying rent and bills while making sure you learn to have a great life outside of your working hours. Try approaching your finances with the 50, 30, 20 philosophy. 50 percent of your earnings will go on your rent and bills, 20 percent will go toward your savings and maybe paying off some student debt. The final 30 percent can go toward whatever you want, so that could be a gym membership, saving for a vacation, retail therapy, whatever you feel like spending money on!

Lower your expectations

You’ve spent four years at college preparing for the world of work and now that you’ve graduated all you want to do is find a job and start working. Well that’s a great attitude to have, but you might need to be prepared to have to wait a while for the perfect job to land in your lap. Job hunting is pretty hard, especially as there are more and more college graduates fighting for the same jobs. Mentally preparing yourself to spend some time either unemployed or working a part-time job until your dream job comes along might save you some mental anguish in the short term.

How to navigate your life after college

Be healthy

When you were in college, you could pretty much eat whatever you wanted, and your body would deal with it no problem. Well your body is not always going to be so supportive of your dietary choices, and you’ll have to learn how to take care of yourself sooner rather than later. Try eating well, incorporate fruit and veg into your diet to help encourage your body to work better. Eating healthy can boost your mood and, combined with exercise, you’ll truly feel like your on top of the world. Try to exercise at least three or four times a week keep your body fighting fit and capable of allowing you to deal with a potentially hectic work/life schedule.

These little tips will help ensure that you can make your first steps into the adult world and keep a smile on your face. If you aren’t quite ready for it yet, then see some of the world and prepare yourself for some hard work climbing the career ladder. Try to keep both your body and finances in a healthy state to allow you to do all of the things you’ll want to when you have regular income coming in.

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