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Post-college depressionJun 04 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Often times life right after graduation can cause depression. Here are some tips for coping. For three months following graduation, I cried myself to sleep. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t happy. After all, I just accomplished something important—a double major and with honors. I had professors, friends, and family all telling me how proud they were. And I was done with homework and exams. So why the sadness? Depression actually can be common during times of high stress and change as well as after those times. I’d just finished some intense years of little sleep and hard work only to have life as I knew it suddenly halt—and for the first time ever I was expected to figure out what to do next. I knew I had to join the working world and fend for myself. But I had no clue where to work. Add that to the fact that I already had rent and bills to pay and I was planning a wedding; it’s easy to see why depression hit. How I dealt with post-graduation depression: a) Support. I leaned heavily on family and friends. I constantly needed reassurance that I could find a job, and that things really were not that bad. I would express frustrations to these people and they readily listened. I think this was the most important part for me about getting through the depression. b) Active pursuit of my goals. I didn’t know where I wanted to work because I wanted to go to graduate school and since I didn’t yet have enough money to make the move to the school, I knew I needed to work enough to save for this. So I knew I needed a well-paying job. I looked all over the place for one, and in the meantime took a temp. job just to pay the bills. It was about three months after graduation that I found a job that I would like and that would pay me well enough. c) I understood that I was not alone. Most of my friends are recent graduates and I saw their struggle too. It helped me to know that not everyone has a job lined up right away and that not everyone even knows what type of job they want! d) Thought about the good times. While I didn’t dwell on the past, I let myself remember the cherished memories of my college years. If nothing else, this helped me to realize how quickly time passes and that wasting it away in depression is not the best thing. Took time for myself. Often I would retreat to be alone and do things that would help me to relax. This is important to do, as we all cannot live in constant stress.  |
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