Gradvice: Tips for Surviving Real Life

By CC Staff

As I write this very post I am curled up in my bed feeling the effects of an 8-hour drinking binge on a Sunday afternoon. I can’t see straight, my head hurts, and I haven’t had the strength to put on a bra. Or pants. I tell you this not because I want your sympathy (unless it comes in the form of a bottle of Gatorade…), but because it is moments like this that are a large part of your life after graduation.

I know it may seem obvious to many of you, but life in the real world is very different from life in college. And by “different,” I mean “sucky.” There are a lot of things you can enjoy in college that just won’t cut it out here. We’ve already touched on the obvious, but here are a few nuggets of wisdom from a seasoned real-world veteran: the 3 most important things you need to know as you begin your life as a mature adult (relatively speaking):

You Should NEVER Get Wasted on a Weeknight:
In college there is very little that separates drinking on a Saturday and drinking on a Tuesday, except, maybe, the specials. You rarely have something that important to do the following morning and even if you did, you could totally just skip it and grab the important info from someone else. In the real world, though, it’s not the same story. There is nothing worse than going to work still drunk from the night before. Oh wait – yes there is. It’s called puking at the office. Or being too hungover to be productive and getting scolded by your boss while the room spins around you. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.

You Are Not Still In College, So Don’t Drink Like You Are:
It’s always fun to throw a good ole college-style party and drink your face off. Just remember that after college, those hangovers are 10 times worse than they used to be. They don’t last hours anymore – they last days. And they aren’t something that can be killed with a few Advil. They are debilitating and prevent you from doing anything productive. At all. For a long time. Before you throw back that Jager Bomb, ask yourself this: will this night be worth the how awful I will inevitably feel for 2 days? If the answer is yes, go right ahead, just know that the hangover will be bad. Guaranteed.

Weekends Aren’t For The Lazy:
When you have a real job there is little time for much else during the week. You get up early, you work, you come home, you work out, you eat and you sleep. That’s it. So when do you do all that other stuff? You know, the laundry/grocery shopping/catching up with friends/running errands? Saturday and Sunday, of course. Weekends full of drinking and laying around are long gone, people. Long gone.

Don’t let all this scare you, though. Like the college lifestyle, you will get used to this one quickly. In fact, you may even begin to cherish those Saturday mornings when you wake up early and have the whole day ahead of you to run your errands. Without a hangover.