Thursday, October 7, 2010

Our Great Accomplishment

To all recent graduates,

As I sit in my living room, piling around all the job ads I should be applying to, I have been thinking about the mentality of a job seeker. As many of us know way too well, this is not the best of economic times. Whether you are still searching for the right opportunity, took a decent job just to move away from home, barely making rent or even working for your dream employer, the same mentality applies.

Recent graduates have forgotten about the work we have done. Many of us, who have recently graduated from a four-year university, are forgetting about what we have accomplished. Whether you went to the University of Illinois, Montana, West Virginia or Judson, you did the work to get out of there alive. You had those all-night study sessions cramming a semesters’ worth of material into your brain. You sat through those boring lectures that counted towards your attendance grade. You went into office hours trying to get help on that lesson you learned last week. You did it all.

Now, since some have graduated and have yet to find that perfect fit somewhere, we forget about everything we have done. Graduating college is no small feet. Just because we are not where we thought we would be, doesn’t mean we are failures. I know from first hand experience that I have felt like a failure in these last couple of months. I then ask myself; why am I failure? I know I have done all I can to land that great writing job I know I deserve. I know I got through college, met new people, branched out and did things I never thought I could. I am sure everyone had great accomplishments during those four amazing years that they never even dreamed of.

What I am trying to say is that no matter where you are in life, you can’t forget what you have achieved. Just because you are not where you want to be now doesn’t mean you won’t get there. Failure is defined as an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful. None of us are that. I think everyone needed to be reminded of this.

Thanks for listening.