Hello, lovelies! I did have a blog post scheduled for last week, but it just didn’t feel like the right thing to post at the time. All my plans for the next six months kind of imploded in the span of two days, and now I’m just figuring out what to do next.
One of my friends came over a few days ago, and we were talking about it. She said, “You seem very calm about this,” to which I responded, “I thrive in chaos.” I’ve had to cancel a bunch of travel plans (I didn’t go to New York last week as I had planned) and am considering whether or not I’ll be able to get a job after graduation based on the state the economy will be in. My senior year was cut short very suddenly, so I’m still processing that.
I thought about discussing each point, then realized that they fit really well into my 2020 goals. Since I was going to publish my three-month update at the end of March, anyway, I decided to include all the plan changes with it. May as well kill two birds with one stone. Plus if there’s any time to re-evaluate what’s next, it’s now.
I’ve been seeing social media posts everywhere about college students being sad about their senior year being cut short. I realize that this is the most first-world problem ever (I’m definitely a lot more worried about my grandparents in Bangladesh, my mom who has type 1 diabetes, and my brother who has a multitude of health problems outside of his autism), but it’s okay to feel sad about this. A huge chapter of your life was cut short without warning.
Anyway, here is how the pandemic is affecting some of my post-grad goals.
Related – My 2020 Goals + Word For The Year
1.//Get A Job
I’m graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and plan on working with people with disabilities. I wasn’t super worried about finding a job because there aren’t enough people working with special needs kids and there are jobs available. I went to the career center, went over my resume, and made plans to start my job search this summer instead of immediately a few weeks ago. It just made more sense because most job openings needed someone immediately, not someone they’d have to wait for till summer. I decided that I’d rather just apply this summer and pick the best offer rather than just settling for a job that would hold the position for me. I was also really stressed out about it and decided to postpone it for the time being.
That was literally three weeks ago. Things have changed since then. The other day, my dad said, “There’s another recession coming. You’re never gonna get a job.” (Thanks for the encouragement, pops.) Anyway, I haven’t given up hope when it comes to finding a job. I would like to start my career once I graduate, but I understand that it might become unrealistic. Thankfully, I’m self-employed and can continue earning an income once I graduate. I also know how to make money online outside of this blog, which should help if push comes to shove. I’m considering all the options, like possibly going to graduate school earlier than I intended. I already know what type of graduate degree I want to pursue and would need to get eventually to progress my career, so it won’t be a waste of time. My main goal is to still to get a job in my field. I’m just looking into other options. At least I know that I’ll have a form of income once I graduate.
2.//Pay Off Student Loans
I don’t have an unmanageable amount of loans, so I’m not too worried about this yet. I have a lot of money in savings, and interest won’t start accruing until November. Ideally, I would like to pay my loans off before that. I should be able to by the end of the year depending on how things go.
3.//Travel To South America
I’m actually really sad about this one. My friend Stellah and I had planned a trip to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina in June, and now we can’t go. We waited on fully booking our tickets and everything because coronavirus was spreading, so thankfully, we haven’t lost a lot of money. It just sucks because this was a trip that we were both really excited about that we’ll have to postpone for now. I wanted to take a short break after graduating to travel before working a 9 to 5/my vacation time being limited to two weeks a year (America really needs to fix that), but I don’t think it’s in the cards now.
This is very much a first-world problem, and we will take this trip eventually. There were also some small things canceled, like my trip to New York last week. I canceled my flight the day before I was supposed to fly out on Tuesday, and it seemed really premature at the time, but things escalated very quickly from there. It’s a good thing I didn’t go. I have three months to rebook another flight, otherwise, I lose the money, and I couldn’t get a refund on my ticket to watch Wicked. Broadway closed literally the day after the show I was going to, so I doubt I’ll get a refund.
I also had a tentative trip planned to Disney World with my friend Kat for the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot. We’ll see what happens within the next few months. All the Disney parks in the world are closed for the first time in history, which is pretty interesting.
Related – 9 International Trips I Would Like To Take Before 30
4.//Graduate + Enjoy Last Semester
Classes being postponed was announced during my spring break last week. I couldn’t really process it at the time because I had never really said goodbye to my friends. The week before spring break, whenever I spent time with people, it ended with, “have fun on your trip. We’ll meet up on this date…” and went home. I packed my stuff on Friday, said bye to my roommate and expected to be back in a week.
That obviously didn’t happen.
At the time, classes were only postponed for two weeks. Online classes don’t even start till the 30th, so I’m completely free till then. Logically, I knew that things would probably escalate and I wouldn’t go back. I knew that I probably wouldn’t walk my graduation in May (It would be moved to a future date), but there was a little bit of hope that there would be a semblance of normal college life in a few weeks.
I picked up some of my stuff from my dorm room on Saturday. Things weren’t completely evacuated yet or anything and we didn’t need to move out yet. Today, we got the email that classes would be completely moved to online and that we weren’t allowed back at our dorms. The college town I lived in has a curfew now because there are still students who have apartments there. The rest of the year will pretty much be spent at home.
I laid in bed and cried for like, eight minutes, processing that college was basically over. This entire chapter of my life was cut short. I officially live with my parents again and the next time I see a lot of my friends will be after we graduate and there are so many kind minor acquaintances who I will never see again. There was no real preparation for us. The universities that weren’t on spring break knew on Friday that it was basically their last day of undergrad and could somewhat close that chapter of their life.
I’ve pretty much processed today that even though I have a few college credits online, this entire phase of my life is over. There were no parties or hugs goodbye or move-out dates or graduation ceremonies. There was a see-you-soon, and I never went back (aside from that one day where I picked up some of my stuff.) Today would’ve been my first day back after spring break, and before the announcement, I was thinking, “I had plans today.”
I dunno. It sucks, but there are worst things in the world. Based on social media, I’m not the only one who is sad, and it’s okay to feel that way. It’s okay to be wistful about missing out on a life transition that you didn’t expect to miss out on. I’ve enjoyed the bit of the last semester I’ve had so far, but I wish I had more.
5.//Take A Workout Class 4-5 Days Per Week
I did do this in the first half of the semester, and it was great. I would take dance classes and weightlifting classes almost every evening. I would skip days from time to time if I was on my period or didn’t have time (like when I had a concert on a Tuesday), but I went to the gym every week. I paid for unlimited classes at the beginning of the semester, which was worth it for me since I used it so much, but now that school is closed, I hope they give a partial refund.
Anyway, I need to create a workout routine while we’re self-isolated at home. I’ve never been good at working out at home. I exercise so much more efficiently when I’m at the gym or am taking a class. My parents are the same way. Now that they and I can’t go to the gym every day, we have to find a way to exercise at home. They’re a lot more used to it than I am, and we do have workout equipment here. We have an elliptical in the basement and free weights, so I have everything I need to create an exercise routine. I just have to start doing it.
Related – A Practical Guide To Working Out Regularly In College
6.//Write Something Fiction
This was just a fun hobby goal just for me. I’ve been busy with school, but I have a cool historical fiction short story idea I would like to write. I’ll probably write it once online classes are done and I’m in the headspace to write it.
7.//Post On Blog Every Tuesday + Schedule Blog Posts Out Early
I do post every week, barring last week. (I wrote it, but it didn’t feel right, so it’ll be published on Friday.) I’ve had mixed results with this goal. There were a few weeks where I scheduled things out early and would have a post scheduled for every Tuesday, then there were other days where I just didn’t feel like writing. I usually made up for it by publishing something later that week, but I haven’t been very consistent when it comes to the date. This is partly because I sometimes publish two posts in a week instead of scheduling the second post in advance.
I haven’t given up on this goal yet. I will continue trying to schedule blog posts out every Tuesday on a consistent schedule. Now that I have time, I have no excuse.
8.//Finish Unread Books On My Bookshelf
I had eighteen unread books on my bookshelf, and I should be done with three of those books by the end of the month. I’ve finished sixteen books so far this year. All of them have been from the library, but I should pass 20 books by the end of March. This will probably come as a surprise, but I actually read more when I’m at school. This quarantine hasn’t been good for my reading goal. I’ve barely read the last few days. I’ll try to change that in the next few weeks. I’d always read in the “slush time” during my day, like on the bus or I’d listen to an audiobook on my walk to class. Now that I don’t have that, it’s difficult to pick up a book at a random time throughout the day.
Related – How To Start Reading More Books In College
Other Reading Goals:
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- No Specific Number – Last year, I set the goal of reading 100 books in a year and reached it. Now that I’ve completed that, I didn’t feel like putting a number goal on my reading, so I set my Goodreads goal to 1 book, and am just finishing books at my own pace. It feels like I’m reading really slowly now because I keep comparing it to how much I read last year, but I’m not pressuring myself right now.
- Read 12 Classics – I am very behind on the list I made at the beginning of the year. I finished Little Women, which was my book for January, but haven’t read A Farewell to Arms or Dune yet. I got both books from the library and should be getting to them very soon.
- Read 12 Tomes – Tomes are 500+ page books. I’ve only read one. My copy of Little Women is 776 pages. I’m not worried about this goal yet. I have a few long books on my TBR that I plan on getting to soon.
- Pick A Series To Reread – I love rereading books and usually reread multiple series per year. The series I chose for this year is Shadow Children, but I probably won’t pick it up till this summer. I had an itch to reread the Harry Potter series in January and have been reading one book a month. This is my third reread of the series, and I’m writing a blog post ranking the books, so that should be up later this year.
So…yeah. That’s where I’m at right now. My family is in full-on self-isolation mode for the next few weeks. We didn’t need to buy up all the toilet paper because we’re Bengali, and we clean our asses with water (am I too late on that joke?)
Anyway, I hope you all stay safe and indoors if you can. I hope this post made you feel somewhat understood because I know there are many people in the same boat as I am. My current plan is to apply for jobs, get ahead on schoolwork, and learn to draw.
Until next time. I love you all very much.
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What have you been up to? Has there been any change in plans? What are you doing to stay entertained?