Contemplating the Real World…

The real world creeps up on you, out of nowhere. Tonight I talked about IRAs, apartments, jobs, finding a community, and lots of other stuff that’ll soon require decisions. And I just turned .

I’m not saying I’m ready. But I won’t say that I’m not. It’s just that it’s a big step–living on your own. Just a few years ago I recall college essays. Soon I’ll have to think about benefits and retirement planning.

I’m not going to iterate through the questions or my tentative responses. However, one thing that did come up tonight was preference between college and the real world. In my mind, college wins. But I don’t know for sure.

There are many things to consider. In school you’re around people your age and you have frequent breaks and diversions. In the real world there’re no guarantees about your community, either in its people or events. In school your primary focus is your studies; you’re not as worried about being able to provide for yourself. But in the real world you have to fend for (at least) yourself. In school you have requirements, deadlines, and diversity. In the real world, you choose what you do both inside and outside of work. And in the real world you suddenly realize the powers and limitations of your paycheck.

The real world opens up choices. Where everything is written down and handed to you on a neat checklist in school, the real world requires you to devise your own checklist and figure out how you’re going to pull it off. While you were once a member of a group, in the real world you’re an individual in your chosen settings.

There are a lot of changes, some more obvious and gradual than the others. I can’t speak with confidence about my decisions yet. But I’m starting to consider them. I’m no longer a teenager…