The last six semesters straight have been full of all consuming graduate school classes. I loved most of it and I hated some of it. I’ve never been more sleep deprived, struggled more with juggling jobs and time management, and commuted so much in my life. Now that I graduated, I’ve been thinking about the infamous: “what’s next after grad school?” question a lot here lately. Sometimes you spend so much time getting to a dream that when it is over, you kind of sit there spaced out wondering what is left to do. Transitions and change make me jittery and so last summer I began preparing myself for this. There was a point last summer in exhaustion that I wondered what Autumn still liked. So, I relaunched my blog last summer after almost a school year of it being private, made myself read non-academic books again, and I’ve been making lots of messes in my kitchen.
This summer has different plans:
- May will be my month of simplicity and rest; I’m working on my my physical health and my emotional health because now that I’m at the end of grad school these are the things I know I have neglected most. I want to spend time with people who uplift me and I want to work on that post-grad school Autumn that I have coveted wanting to be in the last year when I’ve felt exhausted.
- June will be my month of time with Devin road tripping; we’re going to seven different states and I want to cherish seeing Devin after him having to travel so extensively this past year. I want to belly ache laugh and listen to books on tapes. I want to hug dear friends and family we haven’t seen in a long time with him.
- July will be my month of making dreams come true; we’re going to seven different countries in Europe for three weeks and I know this is the adventure of a lifetime. I have always wanted to make this trip and I want to really enjoy every minute of it without anxiety.
- August will be my month of starting my first post-grad school teaching job; I have been gathering my recommendations, researching places and over the next month I will be sending out letters of interest and resumes. I am excited to continue to learn in the classroom and for the friendships I will create with students!
After the hard work of my master’s, I’m really ready for this break to continue developing myself in completely different ways and I can’t wait to be teaching again come August!
