If you’re graduating this year, take heart. You’ll never have another spring break, summer break, holiday break or “early out.”
In the real world, days, weeks and years collide. You don’t pull all-nighters, either, and no one offers extra credit, even when you’re working overtime.
The cocoon you enjoyed during those school years pops and, suddenly, you’re forced to deal with life as your own “butterfly.”
That means cleaning up after yourself, fighting your own battles and, all-too-frequently, changing a flat tire.
In the working world, bosses don’t offer study halls or recesses. They don’t accept late assignments and they’re rarely expected to re-teach a lesson. In the real world, there are no hall passes, senior skip days or proms.
Oh, sure, you’ll still find dances and reasons to dress up. But rarely does someone have after-prom parties that promise door prizes and more food than you could imagine eating.
People are also reading…
There aren’t yearbooks, either, that chronicle your achievements. The closest you come to that? The annual Christmas letter that sometimes brags more than mom and dad ever did.
If you’re lucky enough to have children, you’ll discover you’re not the center of the universe anymore. Somehow, the child who surprises you every day takes that position. And you’re left to figure out how to make everything work.
In the real world, you can still play sports and be part of a team. But don’t say we didn’t warn you when you ache for three days.
You can stay up as late as you want, buy things you don’t need and eat junk food for every meal. But those habits will catch up with you, too.
Miss a rent or house payment and you could find yourself back on your parents’ couch – if they let you back home.
You can avoid washing clothes but, sooner or later, that stance will cost you. (Try wearing the same thing three days in a row. You’ll see what we mean.)
A fun sports car could be in your future as well. But first check how much the insurance will be. That could be a harsher lesson than anything dad tried to deliver.
Vacations are godsends. But when you discover you don’t have enough money to go somewhere fun you may understand why your parents didn’t take you to Disney World every year. (Take a kid to Disney World, by the way, and see how you react when he throws a fit. At those prices.)
Life after school can be harsh. But it also has its rewards.
Depending on the career you choose, you may never need to use that algebra you toiled over. You won’t have to remember historic dates (just birthdays of relatives), chemical equations or gerunds.
You will, however, rack your brain to remember how many car lengths you’re supposed to stay behind another vehicle, how to jimmy a recipe when you don’t have the right ingredients and why you should “measure twice, cut once” when doing that big basement remodeling project.
The stuff that sticks isn’t the stuff that’s memorized. It’s the stuff that’s learned – problem-solving, interpersonal communications, losing gracefully.
The next time you’re in a car, waiting for a train to pass, you may be tempted to calculate how long it takes to meet another one going the opposite direction. Let it go.
That’s the joy of graduation. Now that you’re out of school, you don’t have to do anything.
