REAL LIFE

The Challenge of Real Life

By Alisha, age 22, Massachusetts

Life is filled with many obstacles, whether big or small. The real world is a scary place when you go into it with a hand over your eyes. It's even scarier when you're not prepared or expecting what is going to happen next. Don't just assume you know what the real world is like because until you're there you have no idea. In high school one can only imagine what it would be like to be in the real world, on your own and working for a living. It's harder than it looks and it's not all that fun. High school is going to prepare you enough for the next stage of your life, whether it's college, the workforce, or the military. College will prepare you that much more for the real world and the life that comes with it. Once out in the real world, there is no turning back. It's not easy being out in the real world, when all you have really known is going to school, learning, and doing homework.

Throughout high school, I thought I knew what there was to know about being an adult and being out in the real world, but come to find out, it's not what I thought it was back in high school. I always thought being out in the real world would be this place of exciting new things, and it was going to be, in ways, an easy journey to live. Now that I am out in the real world, after college, it is not at all what I thought it to be. I quickly found that out after I graduated college. Life is different when you are in school than when you finally graduate and start working and paying bills.

After I graduated from college, I didn't know what to expect in the real world. In some ways it's an easy life, and in other ways not so much. I find it harder to make plans with friends and family around my work schedule. Working as a 'full-time' person is harder than going to school and working on the weekends. Over time this whole 'real life thing' seems to be a natural thing. It feels like I fell right into the rotation of things, going to work instead of class and realizing that school is a thing of the past, and maybe also a thing of the future.

Real life and the real world is a scary place, trying to meet deadlines for paying bills or being on time for your work shift. The only way to know what the real world is like is to wait till it's your time to enter it and live it. The only way to learn things in the real world is to make mistakes and learn from them.

What did you think about this article? Tell us!

First Name:
Age:
Email or MySpace:
Subject:	The Challenge of Real Life
Message: