For the past week, I’ve been thinking about my plans after graduation. The idea of not finding a job still haunts me, but I’m trying to stay positive. If it’s a small job at the mall, I’ll take it. I don’t mind working in retail, as long as I get some cash to help my mom with certain bills is fine by me. I’ll even do two jobs, I don’t mind.

It’s one of those feelings where it finally sinks in, something important in your life. For the past couple of weeks, anytime I thought about the future and what’s going to happen after college, it starts to frighten me a bit and I start to question myself. What if I don’t achieve what I want to do in my life? What’s going to happen to me? What’s going to happen next?

As I write this column, I’m thinking about what’s going to happen next. This last semester has been turning out to be a good one. Sure, there’s a lot of work to be done, but I take it one step at a time. I try not to think about it so much because it just makes me more anxious than ever.

As of right now, I really don’t have a “plan.” I also have been getting the grad school question a lot. I think that’s the only question I can answer confidently. I don’t plan on going to grad school right after graduation, but I’m taking at least a two-year break from school to save money. Maybe I’ll be financially and emotionally ready by then. But right now, I don’t think I would be able to handle it.

I want to see most of my friends again. I know I mentioned it in my past columns, but I truly mean it. Even it’s just two of my friends, it will make me happy just to see them again, especially the ones who I haven’t seen in a while. If we could all just spend at least one week together, it would be great.

The one thing that I really want to accomplish is getting my driver’s license. I know that I should have gotten it in high school, but my mom and I were going through financial issues and other things at that time. So, I put it off for a while. People always look at me weird when I tell them I don’t have a driver’s license yet, but I always explain to them why I put it off for so long. But this is one of the goals I want to complete before 2016 is over. Besides, I wasn’t in a rush to get it anyway.

I was having a conversation with my mom about my plans. It wasn’t a serious conversation. We were just talking casually, and she didn’t seem too worried about me. I think she knows that everything is going to be alright, and I’m going to be alright. She’s okay with me taking my time when it comes to grad school. She’s okay with how I’m going to set up my life after college. As a matter of fact, my mom’s family is alright with my decision. They didn’t question it or disagree with it.

There’s another goal I want to accomplish after college. I want to take a two-week vacation with my mom. I want to go to Canada, Bahamas, or somewhere in America that I haven’t been before. I feel like a two-week vacation is a perfect graduation gift. I feel like a trip to Canada or the Bahamas would be great. After working my butt off for four years to earn a bachelor’s degree, I think that I deserve a trip. It’s a possibility, but I’m hoping that it does happen.

There are concerts I want to go to, if any pop up. I don’t know how much will get accomplished, but I hope to have all of them completed. Maybe the vacation seems impossible, but you never know what could happen. Things can change for the better or for the worse. I don’t know what the next chapter of my life is going to offer me. All I know is that there is no “perfect” plan, or a plan that is mapped out, when I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I’m going to trust the universe or fate, or whatever you call it when it comes to the future.