…Is this real life?
Today is Wednesday, May 13th, 2009. And in two days, I will officially graduate from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Communication. It’s a really strange and exciting thing, to graduate from college. I don’t think I’ve totally grasped it yet. Earlier today, a friend of mine who’s provided me with a lot of valuable advice sent me this:
“Whether you realize it or not, you are a goal oriented person. It accounts for a large majority of your happiness. You completed college and are now about to be a college graduate. As far back as you can remember, that has been your finish line, your goal. You got it. Congrats. My suggestion and advice to you is… set some short term goals. Goals for the year. It’s important to have a direction, even if you are not on a career path. Or even if you are. You don’t want to fly blind with your days and actions. Set goals. And set to achieve them.”
It’s great advice & it’s so true… When you’re little, it’s hard to see past graduation day. For a while, I couldn’t see past high school graduation, let alone college. But high school came and went, and now so has college. And then what? If college graduation was always THE goal, what are my new goals? I came up with a list.
Become a millionaire.Become a billionaire!Buy season tickets to all Philadelphia Sports Teams.BUY all Philadelphia Sports Teams!Travel the world.Go to the moon!
Alright, maybe a little ambitious (for now). But it’s a really hard thing to do, to sit down and decide what your goals are in life. Everything in life has been mapped out for me to this point. So now what? Here was my second attempt:
- Be happy. And whenever I find something to whine or complain about or think life is so unfair, just put it into perspective. I hit the jackpot in life. I was born in the greatest country in the world and I have been blessed [I’m not religious at all, but it fits] with two amazing & supportive parents and unbelievable family and friends. I’m healthy. Everyone I know and care about is healthy. I’m a college graduate. I’ve got a fantastic job working with my best friend, in a horrible economy. Life is good
- Work Hard. My mom & dad have been especially inspirational in this sense. My mom has always told me, “Take the time to make something special. And check your work.” Those are two pretty awesome rules to live by.
- Continue to learn. Formal education might be over forever, but education is an ongoing process and there’s a lot more to learn.
- Don’t forget to stop & smell the roses. Life goes fast. And so will this next year and the one after that. Enjoy every moment of it.
So, the list is short & simple. But I like it that way for now. Of course I have more concrete goals. I’d like to buy a dog & a cat. I’d like to own a home on each coast. But what’s important right now is keeping it simple and enjoying the moment. The concrete goals will come. But goals don’t always have to be concrete.
The same friend from the beginning of this post also told me, “You will only say, ‘This is the first day of the rest of my life’ a few times in life. You are on the verge of saying it the first time where it is truly the case.”
So, here we go…
