Congrats, new grads! You did the thing! You got the piece of paper! All your late nights, hysterical breakdowns, and manic study sessions over the last four(ish) years have finally paid off! We’re so, so, so proud of you!

When I graduated a little over a year ago, I thought I was so ready to be an adult and do adult things, like have a job, have a husband, and have responsibilities. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, y’all: Adulthood is a trap. 

Don’t get me wrong— adulthood is awesome. I love my job. I love my husband. I love my friends. No one can tell me that I can’t have ice cream for dinner. I’m happy with my life right now. But I was so, so unprepared for a lot of the things that went down in the last year. 

In part one of this series, I’m going to go over the things I wish I knew would happen with my relationships with my college friends after graduation. Read on to learn more: 

Table of Contents

You will feel lonely. 

A dear, dear friend of mine moved to Maryland after graduation. My bestie moved to Minneapolis. Another dear friend moved to Kentucky. Another moved to Portland. Another moved to Chicago. I am not in any of those places. 

I got so used to having all my friends around me all the time in college that moving to a big city where I didn’t have my safety net of supportive friends was really, really scary. I was lucky that I had my husband to support me; otherwise, I think my loneliness might have been unbearable. 

Moving to start a new job or grad school is hard enough, but it’s even harder when you know you’ll be moving to a new place where you don’t know anyone and you’ll be relying mostly on yourself— possibly for the first time in your life.