“You have a degree, why are you sad?”
AUSTIN — As the spring graduation season ends, new graduates are moving on to the next chapter of their lives. Some will transition into their careers and some will continue on to graduate school. As the excitement for completing this milestone is present, the feelings after graduation are not always exciting.
“Post grad depression is a b[itch]. The transition from college to the real world is hard as it is, but being hit with a ‘you have a degree and a job what do you have to be sad about?’ when you try to open up about it makes it harder,” tweeted by @astoldbyjayde, a Twitter user and college graduate. “I struggled silently for two years.”
Her tweet circulated throughout the country gaining 327 retweets and 820 likes from college graduates. Although the Twitter user did not attend the University of Texas at Austin, among those who replied expressed how post graduate depression is isolating and confusing.
Some former Longhorns even shared their experiences.
“I was really excited about finally getting to the finish line, but I was also really anxious about adulthood,” said Cherise Lee, journalism and sports management double major UT alumna. “It finally kicked in that I had a new life to build and that’s when I began to feel uncomfortable with life.”
According to Katy Redd, associate director for prevention and outreach at UT Counseling and Mental Health Center, said about 70 percent of students come to the center because of anxiety related issues.
“We see students who are preparing for major life events,” Redd said. “We would also see students who are concerned about the next steps in their life after graduation.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 10.3 million U.S. adults aged 18 or older had at least one major depressive episode with severe impairment in 2016.
Some of these episodes were caused by those major changes in life, such as the transition to college and the transition after college. Creating a new chapter in one’s life is not as easy as it may seem.
“Once that sense of normalcy broke and reality hit, that’s when a number of things started to have effects I didn’t think would bother me too much,” Lee said.
As for Nicolette Sulaiman, a public relations major and UT alumna, she was “really excited and anxious” about her transition until she started working at her new job in Chicago. Her work environment was different than what she had expected, causing the job to take a toll on her mentally and emotionally.
After being terminated for poor performance in a toxic work environment, her depression increased.
“I was tying [my] self-worth to my career,” Sulaiman said. “Asking for help was like labor.”
According to the American Psychological Association’s, Stress in America survey, money and work are the top two sources of very or somewhat significant stress (67 percent and 65 percent in 2015, respectively.)
For Taylor Walker, a sports management major and UT alumna, her post graduate depression occurred slightly after graduation. Walker didn’t have a job waiting on her after graduation and was not receiving interviews after submitting countless applications.
She felt she was ready for the post graduate transition, but felt one of the downfalls she had was believing your job and money determined who you are as a person.
“[I felt] I exhausted my resources and [I felt] my college experience didn’t hold any weight,” Walker said.
Walker’s main stress factor that brought her to a low was not being able to find a job that provided the income and stability she needed as a graduate. Her biggest transition was going from living on her own to having to move back home with her parents and not having the financial freedoms she desired.
Lee, Sulaiman, and Walker all advised future graduates to take their time and to not compare your journey to the next person’s. All three women are currently employed and adjusting to their new life as college graduates.
