When I left LA three weeks ago, my life was filled with uncertainties. I didn’t know if I would get that job I was going to interview for, and I didn’t know when I was going to see my friends in LA, if I ever see them again. I didn’t know what my future had in store for me.

I’ve been trying to put together what the past months meant to me. Since I’ve been home, I’ve had a lot of alone time, I’ve been thinking a lot about what all it meant. Post-graduation unemployment, a chance to do whatever you want. The freedom to wake up, work out, read about sports, and watch TV all day. Being with your friends whenever you want to see them. That was the last vestiges of childhood. A childhood I didn’t really have, a childhood I was clinging on to, knowing that it was ending soon, and reality is coming.

Let’s be frank, I knew I was getting that job. It was the perfect job for me, I was the perfect candidate for the job, and only I could screw it up. Thankfully, I didn’t, so tomorrow I’ll start what I’ve been looking for for the past 6+ months. A job. And with that, I end my extended childhood, UCLA, and the few months I had to do whatever I wanted. Now I’m locked into this career path, stuck back home in Morgan Hill, but my future is still uncertain, albeit less so. Will I stay here forever, with same company, never to explore the world? Well, we’ll see.

If I were to do it again, I would try to get it all out of me while in college, as a student. As a student you get somewhat of a free pass, a kind of expectation to explore what you really want to do. Once you cross that line, it’s different, your expectations change, whatever they may be. You have to find a job. Family responsibilities set in. So if you’re still in school, don’t have any regrets. Have fun while you can. Because the real world will come, whether you like it or not. And it’ll all comes to an end.