Hello, Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well with you. Happy October – spooky season is upon us! I don’t know about you all, but I am so ready to watch some Halloween DCOMs this month!

Let me catch y’all up to speed with my life as of late since completely shedding the remains of my “student” identity. My entire month of August was a really fun one! I felt so blessed. I traveled home to San Diego, my hometown, and visited family and friends for a little bit. I also had a delayed but wonderful grad party to celebrate finishing OT school and passing my exam. Then, I flew to Miami for the first time and reconnected with my lovely college girl gang for a few days. And to top it all off, at the end of August, I was blessed to go on a very relaxing, peaceful, much needed vacation via a cruise sailing around the Caribbean sea! It was one of the best trips of my life (shout out to my partner for making it all happen <3). I am officially a cruise advocate now! I wish I could travel forever!

As amazing and necessary as vacation was, after coming back to AZ, reality hit me like a brick. I officially processed that I am now in my new grad season – what a weird place to be in! My entire September has consisted of a whirlwind of emotions. I think these emotions were suppressed because after taking my exam, all I could focus on was how much fun August was going to be at the time. Not going to lie, September has been simultaneously anxiety-inducing, reflective, and introspective. I was super blessed to have a job lined up for me even before taking my board exams, so the process of applying to jobs was one less stressor I did not have to worry about (side note – the power of networking is tremendous. Word of advice? Hold on tight to those connections you make throughout life because this is exactly how I was able to land my first job!). However, when there is a drastic shift from constantly studying, writing papers, and just trying to survive grad school to now having no routine, nothing pressing to do, and no money, I found myself having a LOT of time to think and even ruminate on my future (maybe too much time, honestly). School did not warn me adequately about the many emotions and feelings that come with this new grad season.

The more and more I waited around, the more my nerves started to kick in about EVERYTHING. Perhaps this is the beginning of imposter syndrome creeping up. It is a genuine feeling of wondering if you know enough, are qualified for the job, and are ready to be your own boss. Though I have had extensive training in OT, it is still a feeling that is hard to shake off completely.

What I really think augmented my worries about starting this next chapter of my life is the fear of the unknown, and the realization that I am really now a full-blown adult. I now have to think about and strategically plan for all of the other responsibilities that come with growing up – finding the best health insurance plan for myself, rent, car payments, investing in a 401k and other retirement accounts, maintaining relationships, the list goes on and on. Oh, not to mention the dreaded massive student loan debt I have (and am still slowly coming to terms with). There is no best answer to what I SHOULD do because everyone’s situation is so different. As a student, these were aspects of adulting that I knew were ahead of me. Yet, they were still a pretty abstract concept because I did not have to tackle these things head on. Now, I think about the rising cost of living and overall responsibilities. Sometimes, it makes me spiral worrying about whether or not I will actually be able to afford to live comfortably and merely enjoy life because that is something I really do value. I don’t want to look back 20 years from now and realize that I am continuously in a situation in which I am just going through the motions of life and slowly losing myself and my values because of the overall stressors of adulthood.

Truthfully, September was hard mentally and emotionally for me because I realized that to me, change is scary. It is much harder for me to embrace change than I initially thought. There are so many moving parts and components about change that a person just simply cannot fully control. For some time, I really just felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and it made me feel like I had to have everything figured out – especially being a Type A girlie like myself.

Now that October is here, I’ve done a lot of processing of my emotions, and it has launched a catalyst for me to seek a complete mindset shift. Me constantly stressing about the future, especially when everyone goes through some kind of trial or tribulation period in their life, was not making me feel better about myself – just worse. Relying on the strength of merely myself clearly wasn’t cutting it, and it never will be enough. BUT stepping into faith and casting my anxiety and worries with God helped me to start developing an inner strength to work through these feelings of exasperation and negativity I was battling. Of course, it is still very much a work in progress, but remembering to keep my faith in all that I do has helped keep me grounded and not completely go off the deep end. Giving myself grace has been so important because I am just simply trying to do my best. I also have to remember that I am not the only one in the world going through this major life transition!

So, how am I taking care of myself and working on my mindset shift as I transition to this next stage of life? The single best thing that I have prioritized to keep my sanity is going on my daily walks! My mom and I used to power walk frequently growing up, and it is a practice that I am very grateful she instilled in me. Honestly, the gym is not my go-to choice of fitness, so I knew that wouldn’t be the way I better myself physically. The weather is still blazing hot (100º+, to be exact), but I refuse to let the hot sun prevent me from staying on my fitness journey! I’ve made it a point to exercise early before peak heat, and it has given me some kind of routine to adhere to. I have upped my daily power walks to 4 miles a day first thing in the morning, and it has helped me a ton with providing clarity and practicing gratitude. This is also a time where I listen to my cherished podcasts to work on bettering myself. I also opened a library card to get back into my reading era, as well as bought a coloring book! Of course, I am still consistent with juicing, so that has been fun and tasty. Additionally, I started to journal again. Not frequently as of late, but I made it a point to keep a regular journal and a gratitude journal. I think I like my gratitude journal much more because even if I am feeling overwhelmed and down, I try to name at least one thing in my life that I am currently happy with and grateful for. I, like most people, find it super easy to fixate on the negative aspects of life, even if they are very few, rather than the numerous, wonderful positive aspects of life that I should strive to focus on.

As of right now, I am (still) patiently waiting for my license to come in, which is the last step I have to achieve before being able to finally practice. By the way, I will be starting off my career in outpatient pediatrics if I have not mentioned that already, whoohoo! Additionally, I have also been trying to increase my financial literacy like crazy while I do have this time so that I am not completely blind-sighted by all of the additional financial responsibilities to come. Even though I consider myself to be a novice in the financial world, I am very proud of myself for finally starting to understand things such as a Roth IRA, a high yields savings account, and even the differences between all the student loan repayment plans. These little action steps are great and should be celebrated because it brings me one step closer to financial peace and freedom. Eventually, I will do a whole finance post because I have a lot to say about the student debt crisis, lol.

I primarily wrote this post as a reminder to myself that everything will be OKAY and will work out! This is a shared experience that I know happens to many people, especially young new professionals who have sacrificed other life opportunities such as traveling, working, etc. to pursue grad school in hopes of fulfilling their own professional ambitions.

I am a new OT grad, so any tips and advice on navigating this new grad season and feeling more confident about starting adulthood (for real this time) as a young professional are SO invited. Thanks for allowing me to be vulnerable within this space today, Renrenspeakers! 🙂

Peace and love,

Irene