How I Overcame My Loneliness After Graduation
A guide to help beat post-grad loneliness
Ona breezy May evening in 2017, a few of us had gathered at a local bar in Berkeley. Huddled in a dimly lit corner section, completely oblivious to everyone around us, we were drinking the night away. And why wouldn’t we? We all had just graduated from our master’s program that morning.
We had spent two years hustling over project deadlines, grading assignments, hackathon submissions, and countless networking events trying to get to this day. But apart from all the anxiety and stress, these two years brought with it some of the best friendships and memories of my life.Before I knew it, I had gotten pretty fond of this bubble called college life.
And then came graduation day. We spent most of the evening at the bar, making promises about how we all will keep in touch once we start our professional life. And all that tequila helped cement our belief that staying in touch would be easy.
Initially, life after graduation was great. No more deadlines, no more skipped meals and all-nighters. I was still meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks. But as folks started relocating, as we slowly started getting ready for our jobs to start, little did I know that what was going to follow was going to be the loneliest I had felt in my life.
It was a pretty rough year that followed. I guess I was yearning to go back to the comfort of the bubble that a college provided, wanting to have that sense of community again, knowing that I can always count on finding friends to talk to across the hall. All those feelings finally caught up with me on my birthday, which ended with a panic attack later in the night. But more on that in another post.
At that time, I didn’t know if the weird feeling would ever go, if things would get better, or if I was going to have to accept this version of adult life. Fast forward to today, and I can happily say things do get better. Looking back on my life after graduation, I realized there were a few key things that helped me recognize that life can be pretty great even after college.
This post was originally published on Medium in June 2020.
Parv Sondhi