Dear Future Self,

College has been one fun, stressful ride. All those all-nighters and hating yourself the next day at your 8 a.m. finally paid off. Sleep for dinner is no longer a meal, you have graduated into your professional life where your part-time job at Jack In The Box is no longer a reality.

No more unpaid internships that you were forced to take because if you didn’t, future employers would not even consider you for an interview. However, all those hours of volunteer work have set you apart from the girl over there who thought her membership in her sorority was more than enough for employers to hire her.

You definitely did college the right way, keeping that 3.0 GPA and never missing power hour at Riley’s, I am truly impressed. Yes, you might have lost some dignity along the way but honestly who remembers when hurt your back because you insisted you could ride the bull at buck night?

No more though, 50 cent drinks are sadly in your past now. You have left all that behind to go and work for the man but hey, giving into societal standards isn’t all bad. I mean having healthcare and actual meals for dinner is great.

Who cares that you are not truly in love with your sales job, yeah you might cry once a week in your spacious office but I mean you have an office. What more could you want? Everything you were told to do you were able to accomplish, so stand with pride when you go sale those bottles of wine.

You might not be making a difference in the world and yeah the company you work for probably exploits people overseas but worrying over that is not part of your job description.

Focus on the positives like no more ramen, crazy roommates and healthcare (because you were one of the lucky ones). Just know it only keeps getting better from here, with a diploma in hand you are invincible.

Sincerely,

A wildcat

Nicte Hernandez can be reached at [email protected] or @nicteh7 on Twitter.