Life after High School and College: When Your Social Life Turns into Your Work Life

In this blog entry, I want to share a common problem most twenty something college graduates may have. For me, college and high school now seem like such a long time ago. My ten year high school reunion is creeping up on me and, a little over four years ago, I graduated from college. After college, when I joined the working world with a full time nine to five, I noticed that my social life had dwindled. Not that it went away completely, but I was going to less social engagements and work seemed to take up more of my life. The sorority events, fraternity parties, and homecomings turned into deadlines, business emails, and life spent at the computer. I suspect this happens to a lot of college graduates when they enter the work force. In college, I was in a sorority and between that, school, dating, and my part time job, I was incredibly busy. Once I changed over that tassel on my graduation cap, my social calendar somewhat declined. But, if you want to have a good balance between work life and social life, you have to plan for it.

My Graduation from KSU

It’s hard to be as busy socially when you have a full time job that requires you to wake up at the crack of dawn and go to work every weekday. For me, and my current job, I work four 10-hour days. You try having dinner with friends and getting in time for a workout when you get off at 7 p.m. every day! For me, a good benefit is having three day weekends and never having to work on a Monday. This brings me to my next point—take advantage of your weekends! Having three days instead of two allows for weekend trips and makes it easier when you go on vacation. But, if you only have two days, you need to make the most of them. Unless you work from home on the weekends sometimes, these are your two days to relax, unwind, and have fun with friends and family. Get out there and have some fun!

One thing that has made my life busier is joining my sorority alumnae association. We have events several times a month, so it brings back that sense of togetherness and added social time. As the twenty somethings get to be closer to thirty, life gets busier with co-habitation, marriage and having children. But, while most of us don’t wish to go back in time and relive our college years, you still sometimes miss staying out all night partying when your alarm goes off bright and early at 6 a.m. for work. Well, back to the grind…