Post Grad Anxiety

As someone who went to university in a different city from my hometown and is now graduating soon (I’m 22 rn), I’m terrified of having to move back into my parents’ house. The reason why I chose to leave was because I wanted to move away and not be around them.

I’ve had a wonderful 4 years being away from them because not only did I come out of the closet but also make queer friends and find a sense of community. I couldn’t have made a better decision for myself because the amount of personal growth I’ve experienced over the past 4 years is nowhere near what I would’ve gotten if I chose to go to a university in my hometown.

But now that graduation is near and I have to be serious and realistic about my future, I have to choose between moving back home and working here or staying in my university city and work there. My university city definitely has more opportunities but as a fresh grad, I’m scared I won’t be able to afford to live by myself and will have to rely on my parents financially (which I don’t want to). My parents want me to move back home and have made it clear that they won’t support me financially if I choose to work in my university city.

With 2 months left till graduation, I’m applying for jobs left and right nowadays (in both cities), and while my preference is definitely my university city, I’m scared I won’t get a job good enough for me to be able to afford to live by myself. If I move back home, I won’t be as strained financially but I’ll go nuts because I have a horrible relationship with my parents, and I also don’t really have any friends left in my hometown. After spending 4 years discovering myself and finally finding people I like to be around, I’m gonna have to return to the same lifestyle I had before I left for uni and I’m gonna be miserable there.

Obviously, where I end up depends on the job offers I get and after weighing all the options, I’ll get to decide what’s best but I’m just really nervous about it all.

Is there anyone here who went through something similar? Whether you ended up moving back to your parents’ house after graduation or managed to stay/move elsewhere, I’d like to hear your experiences and would like some words of reassurance too ☹️