One Year Post-Grad: A Letter to My Senior Year Self
Hey B,
It’s been a year now since you turned the tassel from right to left. A year since you hugged your people goodbye, knowing that what we once called the best chapter of our lives was coming to a close—and quietly hoping the next one might be at least half as good.
One year since pretending it was just another summer break, not the final stretch before stepping into a world far less familiar than that brick house on Magnolia Drive, where the walls could probably write volumes about the sisterhood it fostered and the laughter that ran through it.
Back then, life was date parties, late-night ice cream runs, and stress that came in the form of an exam or the frantic search for a formal dress. Simpler times, maybe—but still so full.
As dad likes to say, you’ve grown up even more this past year than you did in the four years of college. Whether that came from paying bills, working a “big girl” job that both challenges and fills you daily, or building a new life in a brand-new city, the growth has been undeniable.
This year, more than ever, you learned how loneliness and purpose can coexist. Despite being surrounded by steadfast support, there were still moments of heaviness. But there was also a steady knowing that you are exactly where you're meant to be. You began to understand that belonging doesn’t always come with security, and that purpose doesn’t always arrive hand-in-hand with clarity. The kind of guidance we once felt from the nearness of home isn’t as easy to find in adulthood.
Still, you found ways to stay grounded. You found joy in the small, often overlooked things. You committed to what fuels you: eating well, writing, playing guitar and tennis, and getting outside just to move (and loving your body for it!!!!). Working in a hospital has taught you that life can get flipped upside down in an instant, so you’ve learned to savor your health and freedom in new ways. You’ve battled homesickness with practicing gratitude. And you’ve met the grind of a full-time job with intention on the days that are fully yours.
You’ve visited home three times now and spent time with family in Georgia, too. Somehow, home feels more beautiful now that you’ve had to leave it, and I hate to say it, but the goodbyes have not gotten any easier, in case you were wondering.
Now, let me paint a picture for you.
On the flight back to California this past June, you sat next to an 89-year-old woman who, despite your post-night-shift exhaustion, seemed eager to chat. So you did. God has a way of placing the right people beside you when you need them most, and this was no exception.
She shared what life has been like since moving into an assisted living home—a transition she admitted was hard. Making new friends, discovering new hobbies, and finding fulfillment in unfamiliar places. Sound familiar? At 89, she was navigating a chapter strikingly similar to yours. Seems like there will be multiple times in our lives where we become freshmen in college over and over again.
What stuck with me was that she told me, “This is my favorite season of life yet.” Are you kidding?? How beautiful. After losing two husbands, raising children now scattered across the country, and moving into an entirely new environment, she still described herself as the happiest she’s ever been. And she meant it.
One thing she was very excited to reminisce about was the plants on her balcony that she was surprised with on Mother’s Day by her children, since they couldn’t be there in person. She couldn’t get over how peaceful it was to sit on her balcony each morning and enjoy the plants that surrounded her, gifted by her kids. She was finding joy in the little things this chapter had to offer, just as I have been learning to do.
Funny to me how life is so full circle. Each new chapter that we settle into, we learn to find the little blessings and put ourselves out there amid so much change.
So, to my senior-year self: I know you're feeling everything. You’re scared you made the wrong move. You’re trying hard to trust God with all the change. You wish you had just one glimpse of what’s ahead. I wish I could say it will all be easy—I wish I could promise that friends will instantly appear, that you’ll quickly feel confident at work, that visiting old college friends will be seamless.
You WILL miss the comfort of having your best friends just a door away, and you are going to second-guess whether you’re cut out for the work you’ve chosen. The doubts will come.
But then, all of a sudden, you hit that one-year mark out of college, and you look back in awe of how far you’ve come. You’ll wish you could wrap your arms around your younger self, because everything you hoped for is slowly, surely unfolding.
The work friends you will soon be nervously reaching out to? They’ve become some of your closest friends. The quiet nights in—cooking something new while Friends plays in the background—will start to feel like rest, not loneliness. The weekend getaways to D.C., the trips back to California—those will become sweet reminders of just how much freedom this season holds.
This time is so special—you’ll never get it back.
That’s the last thing my sweet new airplane friend told me before we parted ways.
You’ll never truly get back the same freedom to go wherever you want in a random week in October, and you won’t always get to live in a little apartment with your high school best friend, decorating it just the way you want, capturing every memory because you know how fleeting it all is.
The growth you can’t always see is happening. The beauty of this chapter isn't in having all the answers—it's in learning to live fully, even while the questions remain. Embrace the lack of structure you once had written out for you and let it stretch you.
Take the risks, try something new that scares you a little bit, work to live instead of living to work, and count the little blessings, because life gets hard and is really all about finding peace next to the plants on your balcony when you think about it.
With love,
Your post-grad self.
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