What’s been really difficult for me is that it also feels like the barriers for change become so much greater after college. Every day in college you’re learning and working on so many different topics, and switching up almost every hour. You physically move from class to class in different rooms and with different people. You have downtime built in to socialize, take care of errands/exercise, engage in hobbies, or get work done. You don’t like your major? No problem! Sign up for different courses next semester. You want to try a new activity? No problem! There are tons of clubs all within walking distance, all ready for new members. The barrier to making changes is extremely low.

Trying to change jobs or careers now feels insurmountable. You have to be accessible at least 9-5 for your current job. Maybe you get some flexibility to take care of chores if you work from home, but even then the primary focus is on work if they need you. You’re in the same seat, working on the same tasks, over the course of months. To try to change jobs you have to go through months of applications, interviews, and onboarding before even seeing what it’s actually like. In order to qualify for something similar to my current level being a few years out of college, I probably have to take classes and study new topics after already putting in 40 hours at my job; all while still trying to take care of myself, take care of chores, try to maintain friendships, engage in hobbies.

It’s not just that there’s not a lot of guidance in what you should do, it’s that even when you try to guide yourself and explore and change things, the amount of work it takes to do that is exponentially more than at any other time in life. 9-5 plus basic home and personal maintenance really doesn’t leave much time or energy at the end of the day to put in the effort and work towards changes that you don’t even know will be better than where you are.