Welcome to Your Life
There was no joie de vivre after graduation. In a not-great economy, we were stuck in the paradox of looking for an entry level job but not having the requisite experience befitting someone who had been working for years during school at firms that weren’t hiring anyway. (Why bother trying?)
Or maybe this melancholy was brought on by being pulled out of the hazy but pleasurable stupor that was the life of a college student with an irregular schedule with a dozen different things to do but without the responsibility of having to earn my keep.
We were overeducated in fields with wildly poor prospects for employment, income, and if we’re being completely honest, little interest in participating in. Rather than excitement at reaching an end goal, it turned out it was the process alone that was exciting – something that became clearer over time – even though exhausting.
But eventually, as one must do unless a member of the gentry, we all ended up with jobs. We tried to tell ourselves that our souls weren’t being sapped by the artificial light from 5000K T8 fluorescent bulbs, the buzz of the recirculated air blowing through tinny vents, and the ambitious co-workers eager to climb the corporate ladder by sucking up to the upper rungs while shitting down to us.
And so, we sat there at commencement, eager to soak up all the bits of wisdom served up by the invited speaker, checking in and out while we stared into the empty abyss that was the unknowable future of post-graduation. Graduation filled us with the thrill of passing the milestone of matriculation, but also left us mortified at the emptiness ahead.
The day-after was anticlimactic; it was just another ordinary-day. The rhythm of humanity hummed on, unaware of our presence and our official entry into the adult world. The sun rose and people got ready to go to work and before the sun would set these workers returned to their domicile.
Eat, sleep, shit, and sometimes even shit at work, metaphorically and literally. Welcome to your life.
-gk