Graduation

Graduation – a time of celebration, pride, and relief.  You’ve made it through all the final exams and projects.  Your parents are so proud. Your grandparents and other family members are proud. You’re proud of yourself – and rightfully so! The stress, sleepless nights, and anxious thoughts are done. But what if they’re not?

Sometimes, the feelings associated with graduation are much more complicated.

• A graduation is a time of new beginnings but with every beginning, there’s also an ending and with endings, there is usually some degree of grief. The predictable life you’ve known for many years is coming to an end, and is replaced with uncertainty.
• The people you’ve spent time with on a regular basis and made friends with, will no longer be in your life in that same context. Some of them (or perhaps you) – will be moving away and the reality is that you may not see them for a very long time, or possibly ever again!
• If you’re graduating from high school, perhaps your marks aren’t as high as you need them to be so while your friends are moving on to post-secondary studies, you may have to do some upgrading and are feeling left behind.
• Expectations are off the charts for graduates. Everyone tells you the world is yours for the taking! But those high hopes can feel like a lot of pressure. What if you do poorly in university? What if you don’t like the area you’ve chosen to study? What if you graduate and can’t find a job?
• Graduation from high school can bring a fear of the unknown. There’s a big transition from learning in high school, to learning in post-secondary studies.  Sometimes people who were honour students in high school can really struggle in university and that can have a big impact on their identity and feelings of self-worth.
• Graduation from post-secondary studies can also bring a fear of the unknown. Some programs offer a fairly high employment success rate and others do not. There are factors that can affect your chance of gaining employment in your field that are outside of your control such as the economy or political climate. It can be demoralizing to have your degree in hand but not find a job and have to constantly answer questions from well-meaning family and friends about your search for employment.