So I’m done. My apartment is mostly packed up. My best friends have left. I’ve said almost all the heart-wrenching goodbyes.
What’s next?
I’ll go home and travel and spend time with family and friends. Then I’ll start a graduate program. I originally thought I would get up here and rap about the transition from HBCU to prestigious PWI. But I don’t know a lot about that since I’ve been educated at predominantly black schools since I was 13. The truth is I don’t know a lot about anything. I know what’s next and still have no fucking clue what really lies ahead. And….. That is absolutely terrifying. But, I think that’s most of our reality.
Right?
Even if we landed our dream job, or we’re off to a top notch professional/ graduate program we don’t know what life has in store. We really aren’t that different from our classmates who are undecided, wandering, still finishing their degree or whatever.
So I guess I’m writing to myself and everyone else who feels this…. We have to embrace the unknown. We have to be comfortable that even amongst our friends, our “unknowns” will be different. It might be our career path, or if we’ll settle in well to our new job/ city. It might be financial. It could be anything really because that’s what life at this point or any point is about.
Our 20s are exciting because ultimately we’re walking this tightrope for all our friends, family, nosey church members, frenemies, and social media mutuals to see. I am just as scared to fall as anyone. But I am taking comfort in the fact that I’ve done work and built relationships that don’t require me to navigate this next chapter perfectly or at a certain pace. Maybe you don’t have anything lined up because you still need to do this kind of work. Or maybe it’s luck of the draw.
Either way, nobody really knows anything and we’re all trying to figure this out. So it doesn’t matter what’s next as long as you believe that you’re next.
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