The “Real World”

When I was 15 years old, I just wanted to start working. I wanted to skip high school and college and enter the workforce.
I would try to take summer classes in an effort to finish school early and would study different topics on my own in hope that I would be qualified for a job without the need of 4 years of college.
I think I held onto the idea that one’s life didn’t really start until they graduated college.
You always hear during college graduation speeches something about how life is in the real world. How the real world helps you grow by bringing new experiences, people, and hardships.
But as I got older, the more I realized that life doesn’t start at 18 or 21 or whatever age one may think it does, it already started.
I’m in college at the moment and I’m learning even more about how the world is, how people interact, and how I fit into the world.
The truth is, we learn the most from life when we leave our comfort zone, when we do things that we aren’t used to doing.
By going to college, I was thrown into an environment with people from different parts of the world, had to live with complete strangers, live in a different part of the country, get used the rigorous training of college swimming, and had to take classes that were unlike what I saw in high school.
Everything’s new from the people, to my daily schedule, to even the size of the bed that I sleep in (I forgot how small twin beds were). I’m not used to anything and certainly not in my comfort zone.
But I’m growing.
Those complete strangers that I’m living with are now my best friends. College swimming has been one of the most rewarding parts of my life. I’ve been able to adapt to college level courses. And that different part of the country is now my home.
I’ve jumped off the 10m platform at the pool for the first time, had my first coffee, got stuck in an elevator, rode in a cop car (I didn’t get in trouble…we’ll save that story for another time), listened to different kinds of music, and got to travel to different campuses around country with the swim team.
And I haven’t even fallen off the twin bed…yet.
I think the real world is about learning. Learning about the person that you are, the things you can do, the people you know, and the opportunities that you have in this world.
Life is in full swing for me. I didn’t need a job to experience the real world. I’m already in it.
All I did was leave my comfort zone.
My 15 year old self would be baffled.

Author : Tommy Cestare