Hi friends! Hope your Wednesday is off to a great start (or ending great… depending on when you’re reading this.) I’ve had so many really sweet DM’s lately asking about my post-grad life, how I’m doing, etc. Whenever I run into friends in Lubbock, everyone always asks how I’m handling working full time, if I’m still happy that I graduated, how’s my blog, etc. SO many great questions and I love answering them. I figured it was time for a little update on all of that so here we are.
It’s been four months since I graduated from college. For those that are new here, I graduated from college EARLY. I did it in 3 years. So many people told me not to do it, that college is the best years of your life, and some said they graduated early too and they loved it. I stuck to my plan for myself and graduated early and here are my thoughts….
I’m still happy about it. I’ll admit, at times I get sad. My fiancé, friends, my sister, and almost everyone around me right now are in school still. I don’t miss campus or going to class. That was never really my thing or anything I enjoyed. I do miss a flexible schedule, I miss going to class at 9am and getting a 4 hour break and going back at 1pm then 4pm. I miss waving to friends on campus and repping my xxl sorority t-shirts with leggings like a basic white girl. I miss not having to worry about bills and I miss those 1am drives to Mcdonalds with my best friends.
But…. I’m still SO happy I graduated. I’m in a new season of life and it’s completely incredible. But OF COURSE I miss so many things about college. Yeah, I could’ve soaked that up for one more year but if you know me personally, you know I’m extremely independent and I was ready to work and be graduated.
So, I started an 8-5 job. The last 4 months I’ve worked full time for a PR company (my major was public relations) and I’ve also worked full-time for my blog. I was working 8-5, took an hour to workout, eat dinner, then worked for the blog from 7-10pm (which was never enough time).
Since graduating, life has been nothing but fantastic. Josh and I are living together, I’ve been branching out to more people, making friends of all ages, putting my health and fitness priority again, and finding myself again with the lord. Although, I have struggled with my strict schedule. This is something I debated sharing because I literally put myself through 18 hours a couple semesters just to be able to graduate and work full time. So, I felt like I had all my sh*t together, and was ready to basically crush this full-time job life.
But no. In ways, it felt like I had failed.
In reality, I’ve struggled with it. And I’ve realized that’s okay. It’s not the full time day job thing that is killing me, it’s the fact I have two jobs that require full time attention. I’m a firm believer in going after what you want. I wanted and enjoyed two incomes. But, after 4 months of it, it completely got away from me. I became rude to Josh, stopped calling my family, was extremely irritated and anxious all.the.freaking.time, and never caught a break.
When I started seeing my health and attitude get worse, I knew something had to give but at the same time I had wanted this for so long and told myself I was going to do it and do it well and then I didn’t. I had a really hard time accepting that it wasn’t working. Why couldn’t I handle being a fiance, a good friend, a blogger, having a full-time job, staying in shape, etc?
In July, I started thinking about how I can’t continue this. Something had to give, but when you love everything you’re doing….how do you give one thing up? I’m quick to drop something I don’t like. I don’t like wasting my time. But I loved my full time job, I adored my blog, and I loved all the people and friendships around me. I mean, I couldn’t stop blogging… I’ve devoted 3 years of my life to this thing. I couldn’t quit my job because… I don’t have THAT much faith in blogging to supply the income I like.
After prayers, talking to close family, and my boss… I found a new solution.
The past week, I started working at my full-time day job part time. This is something I’m extremely grateful for as my boss was very understanding that my blog requires time too. This isn’t something every employer would understand. But for now, I’m working everyday 8am-1pm (sometimes longer). And the rest of the day is dedicated to working my blog. After 1 week of this, it feels like I can breathe again. I have time for things, I have time to call my mom, I have time to cook Josh dinner, I have time to devote to friendships, loving myself, and continue diving into my devotionals which is something that’s really helping my anxiety.
This post is so long already but needless to say, I wanted to update y’all that sometimes I can’t always handle everything and I’m not always put together. My Instagram and my blog are highlights of my life but this has been a behind the scenes struggle for quite a few months now. I’m so happy that I get to continue everything I’m doing, just with balanced time for each now. I really love this season of life and I love my schedule now. SO, 4-months post-grad has been challenging, amazing, and quite the ride thus far and it’s really only just beginning. Thanks for following along through the different seasons of life! Y’all are all like my real-life friends. XO!
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