post grad lessons #1: success.

i haven’t been here in a while.

[there’s a weird part of me that always prevents myself from writing in capital letters.]

i haven’t touched my medium or even put cyber pen to cyber paper in quite some time. but not much has changed since i last wrote…not exactly anyways.

i’m still lost in this ‘real world,’ trying to process what post-grad life is and what it means to find yourself outside the expectations of your peers and inside the expectations of yourself.

i recently learned that one the best feelings to have toward yourself is disappointment. don’t get confused here. i don’t mean disappointment in the sense of failure, i mean disappointment in the sense of pressure and motivation.

it’s important to constantly ask more of yourself and to push yourself to search for more. you can decide what more means to you here.

what was the first thing that came to your mind?

someone near and dear to me recently said, “success is the realization that there is more work to be done.” as someone who has been out of college now for nine months, this cannot be more true.

success is not being idle. it is refusing to accept the fact that you have hit the ceiling. it is looking back and smiling at all that you’ve done and smirking at the steps toward the road ahead. success is growing in any way shape or form. it’s wanting more.

success is realizing that what you once thought would be the top of the mountain, isn’t anymore.

when i was growing up, college was always referred to as this HUGE thing, like mount everest, huge. it was seen as a do or die type of thing, something of necessity. [i’m not arguing that it isn’t, it definitely is.] but i think that along the way the message that college is the key to success also got engrained into my mind and made me believe that it was the only key that i needed.

graduating college is a monstrous accomplishment. 
but it is nowhere near the end, as a matter of fact, it’s a beginning.

it’s the gateway to a vast amount of opportunity, a gateway to new worlds, people, and experiences. it’s also a gateway to confusion, stress, and anxiety. but i mean those in the best way possible.

there are so many roads that you can walk down now, so many roads that you can pave yourself.

so apply for that job. join that book club. go to that happy hour networking event. register for online classes. read as many books as you can. go.

success is refusing to let the dark patches stop you. 
success is building brick by brick.
success is never letting the negatives hold you down.
success is finding the silver lining.
success is a mindset.

you are success, now go find yourself.