GirlTip #108: Why You Have to Learn To Live With Uncertainty
By Rachel Simmons
It’s believed that young people struggle after college because they’re inundated with free time. The real problem is that they lack the tools to live with uncertainty.
Up until college graduation, for many young people life has been a series of go-heres and-get-theres: from school to activity to social event to internship. It’s not just, “if you get this grade, you’ll be good.” It’s, “if you do this activity, you’ll be good. If you take this AP and play this sport, you’ll be good.” The structure of your life has been just as important as your performance within it.
All that scheduling creates a satisfying illusion of control over your life. It implies – and many, many girls come to believe — that if you do this or do that, go here or go there, things will work out for you. But life — real life — is filled with uncertainty. Learning to thrive after college isn’t just about finding the next thing to do. It’s making peace with the disorienting, scary, take-your-breath-away uncertainty that life is often about.