Chances are you have been asked on a fairly consistent basis even since the beginning of your senior year; what is next? I know that when I was in my last year of college this was the question on the tip of every person’s tongue. Whether a new acquaintance, an old friend or a current peer, people were so incredibly concerned with what was next for me. And of course I sinned against my fellow seniors by asking them the same question. Maybe, just maybe, one of them would have the magic formula for what to do with life after school. None of them did… and most of us seniors, even into the hours right before receiving our diplomas, assumed life after college would go something like the video below:

While the humor in this video is overwhelming the truth is that there is a fear that every person who is transitioning through a phase in their life experiences. That fear is simply the unknown. What is on the other side? And while the transition from High School to college was frightening for most, there was still the knowledge of something familiar. You had been in school for 12 years at that point, another 4 or 5 isn’t too intimidating. But after college? After you have completed the culture’s mandate of schooling. What now?

That’s the question I want to walk through with you over the next couple of blogs. Nobody wants to fall flat on their face, but many do. That is the reality, in some way or another we will all have those moments and it will happen more than once. What I hope for is that you can learn with God by your side and the Holy Spirit leading you how to fall on your face, and make it look graceful.

You may even have your next steps planned out. Perhaps you found a job or have an apartment picked out or even have already been accepted to your first overall graduate school choice. That is beautiful and well and good, but (and I promise I do not say this to scare you) all the planning in the world cannot change the fact that life is unpredictable and life after undergrad is an unexplored territory. What is required of you is to lean into it, experience it and become wholly okay with not being okay. You aren’t supposed to have all the answers now and you won’t have all the answers after graduation either.

The areas of life I plan on looking at over the next few blogs will look into the themes of faith, community, vocation and identity.

What do I do now?

Who do I become?

These are the questions we will lean into. Most of what I share will be from my own personal experience, which is not universal, some voices of friends and colleagues and Ill be sure to throw in some pictures of puppies to lighten the mood:

Let’s tackle whats next.

Much Love

BGTF