Graduated College... Now What?

It has been a month since I graduated college. It's hard enough for me to believe it, but apparently it's even harder for strangers considering all the comments I receive about how young I look. (An annoyance which will have to be saved for another post.) My friends and I have been in school for the past seventeen/eighteen years of our lives, and now, with the exception of those going to some sort of graduate school, we're finished. So what are we supposed to do now?

The answer overwhelmingly seems to be to Get A Job. Of course, we need to be able to support ourselves and start our career track. Fair enough. But does this have to happen right away?

It seems to me that the primary focus for those who attend college is on having a job lined up for you immediately upon graduating. I want and need a job of course, but there are other things I want too. I want to finish tweaking my book, which I wrote four years ago but haven't had time to dedicate to fixing it up. I want to travel, oh man do I want to travel. I want to see things and experience things and, God forbid, take a couple months to celebrate the end of my college career, refresh after eighteen years of school, and consider my options. I feel guilty for having these desires, though, because most of my friends already have jobs. I don't. It isn't for lack of trying, but the fact of the matter is that I have been out of college for a whole four weeks and am still unemployed. 

So why do I feel guilty? After all, to want a break after a long period of intense work is natural. I feel like it's because this country has an obsession with working. As far as I'm aware, people in other countries take breaks. Here in the States, though, so often it's all about working yourself into the ground. (Unless you're an overpaid CEO of a major company, but I digress.) 

I fully understand that I am coming from somewhat of a privileged perspective to feel entitled to a break, and I don't deny that many people don't have the option to not work straightaway. I'm certainly not made of money myself. I just wish that more people did have the option. To not just work round the clock, but to live a little too. Financial security is undoubtedly a necessity, but what about psychological well-being?

So I will continue to try to Get A Job. I want one, I need one, and it is expected of me. But I may not find one for a little while. And in the midst of all my friends going off with their awesome jobs, I'm going to stick to my belief that that's okay.