Real Life Starts After Graduation

So...I graduated from college!! It was a long and trying 5 1/2 years. Yes, you read that right; it literally took me almost 6 years to graduate from college, and I am not ashamed to say it!

Look at that happy face :) 

So you graduated. What are you going to do now?

The weeks leading up to my graduation elicited questions about how I felt, was I happy, and more importantly, "what now?" The last question sort of took me by surprise more than anything. Not going to lie; it came off more as a "wagging finger" type question than one of true curiosity. 

In almost every situation I sprouted out the most ambitious and correct-sounding response I could think of. "I'm going to law school." 

Anyone who knows me also knows that I literally changed my major in college four times before landing on Sociology which is just as obscure of a major as my future career plans (and I loved it!!).

Well anyways, the more I told people what I was going to do after graduation, the more "for-real" it sounded, the more I could see myself actually going through with it, and the less I asked myself what I really wanted to do.

I don't know guy from The Notebook! It's not that simple!!! 

Well I can actually see myself as a lawyer. I know from my obsessive research, informational interviews of lawyers and law students (and experience in the legal field) that I would enjoy the profession and going to law school. But I feel that being a professional, or having a career is not something that I would necessarily do if I didn't have to. IMHO unless I was a police officer or doctor saving lives or something similar I can't see myself pulling that much value from my career to the point where I find it self-fulfilling. But, that's just the type of person I am, and other people can. 

So what is the big self-fulling purpose I'm destined to fulfill? I don't know yet, but I know I'll figure it out. I also know that my job just isn't "that", nor will it be and that's okay. But at the end of the day, I need to make money because I have a ton of student debt, more than I'm proud to tell, and I need to make money. 

Me after seeing my student loan payment for the first time

What I'm doing now

I found a job.

I'm so relieved! I actually found this job two months ago and was able to start working  full-time already due to me killing my self last summer taking extra classes so that I would only have one class to take this last semester. I was lucky enough to be able to take that class at night. Two days after I graduated, I was offered a salaried position at a great fortune 500 company making the salary I wanted. I also attribute this success to the several professional jobs and internships throughout my collegiate career (the one thing I did right). 

Finances

I'm getting my finances in order, evaluating my debts and financial goals for graduate school, and coming up with a game plan (I'll share this with you soon). 

Fitness

I'm also deciding I'm no longer going to sacrifice my fitness the first time I get busy. While I am still struggling with this concept (everything is a process), I have successfully tracked my calories and exercise on fitness app Myfitnesspal for 27 days (a new record for me!!), and I've managed to work out 2-3 times per week for the past month. I plan to work out 5-7 days per week and burn 3500 calories per week through exercise and diet cuts.

Personal Development

Me and a couple of my friends decided to start our own mastermind group. My Utoria coach Tori Molnar (she's pure awesomeness :) told me to never start a new idea without telling your mastermind group. I've also heard that having a mastermind group is crucial to business success. For our first meeting we will be outlining our goals for 2015, setting a schedule, and keeping each other accountable!! 

I'm so excited for the future and what it holds. 2014 was a warm-up now 2015 is GAME TIME! 

Have any of you recently graduated? If so how do you feel about life and what's your plans for the future?