6 emotions you will feel after leaving university

And just like that it became real, I was really leaving university.

“The best three years of your life” were over. I packed my room up, ripping the animal paintings I picked up at the art sale on campus off my blue walls.


Unpicking my sun and moon tapestry (that every uni student had at one point) just for it
to be thrown in the bottom of a box and left in a shed at my mums house.

Shoving all the unused cutlery and plates into boxes and wrapping together all my life belongings that I’ve gathered over my three years into bin bags. How do you leave your student life
behind without feeling lost?


This question was one that was always popping up, even throughout the three years,
despite it being pushed to the back on my mind.


Leaving university, a place which over the past three years, I’ve grown and learnt and lived, and heading back to a countryside town is the epitome of underwhelm.

I left the sanctuary of routine and independence into the world of the unknown and these are the feelings I felt which have painted this experience!

PROUD


We did it- we finished our exams, we wrote our final 3000 word deadlines, we handed
in all our work on time and we realised that every single late night work session in the
library was finally worth it.


It’s the waiting in our black and pink gowns ready to walk the guided stage for our certificates and watching the enlightened faces of our families as they take a thousands photos.


You have learnt how to cook meals from scratch (maybe not good ones) however they quenched our hunger nevertheless, you learnt how to be on time for lectures (not everyday) and importantly you learnt how to prioritise certain areas of your life.


Leaving university, you are coming out of the other end and you should be so proud for achieving something for yourself.


SAD


This is a feeling we can’t escape but also have to feel quite grateful for experiencing, we
met the most amazing friends- lifelong friends.


We grew as people, learning how to live on our own and create our own lives away from anything we’ve known before.


You are leaving university, full of people who after 3 years have helped you through your hardest times but have also been there through your best experiences.


You are also leaving a city where you have made amazing memories, which you can now only look back upon.


FREE


You have the whole world at your feet right now, albeit a scary thought it is one that is
quite liberating.


This is your time to go explore and do things that are not going to be interrupted by your 9am lectures the next day.


For my celebrations at the end of university, me and 5 of my uni friends went on a month long inter-rail trip around Europe.


We visited 15 different countries, swam around beautiful foreign lakes, walked miles visiting landmarks and drank till we were full and merry.


But most importantly we partied like freshers and spent the most amazing summer together surrounded by sun, memories and good times. University friends really are one of a kind.


So, whatever it is you decide to do once you finish, ensure you do it with the thought of freedom in your mind.


LOST


For me this was the hardest feeling of them all, I had finished university, I had come
back from spending the best summer of my life abroad and I was utterly confused about
what to do next with my time and my life.


I was over generalising everything and knots were in my stomach trying to figure out what my next steps would be, what life will look like, what is it that I want to do?


The thing that I realised is… its completely okay, its okay to feel lost, its okay to not know what I need to do with my time, its okay to feel that pressure of needing to find my perfect career and my time will come when it comes.

As an OCD sufferer I am often plagued with thoughts of doubt and uncertainty,
but I know better than to give in to this and realised acceptance was truly the only way
forward.


CONFUSED


It’s a time when everything is moving at a fast pace and you are struggling to catch up,
you have some friends who are in full time jobs in stable relationships and with stable
incomes.


You have family members who are still living their day to day lives, you have
some friends who are still in uni and staying in the city that you were so sad to leave.


Coming back home and getting used to living with your brothers or sisters
remembering why you were so happy to leave their annoying side!


The same house you grew up in but it feeling so very different to when you last lived here, it’s also the feeling of not feeling at home which is especially tough, as if you outgrew that place.


MOTIVATED


This will be the first time that you are leaving the education system and entering the
great big world, full of opportunities and full of new things to see and do!


This is a time where you will meet so many people who will offer you new jobs, new opportunities
and new ways of living you have not even known to exist.


I remember coming home and looking at new countries to move to, graduate schemes, internships and full time jobs, feeling like everything was in my reach. I am still wondering doing a masters degree at a foreign university!


It’s the motivation to keep looking for what you want to do, grabbing your laptop and applying for jobs until your fingers start to hurt. You are motivated to leave your small home town and move onto a new life for yourself, this part comes and goes but when its there use it to its peak because you don’t know what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.


These are the feelings that described leaving university for me but im sure there are
many more which are completely okay and understandable. If you think you are alone
in the struggle find comfort in the fact that you are definitely NOT alone!


These feelings come and go and the only way to move forward is to accept and keep
yourself going.