Step 8: Accept the Reject

You are going to get rejected at some point in your life, whether it's by a loved one, a publisher, a judge, your cat, or a potential employer. The important thing to remember is that there are so many other opportunities out there for you, so you can't just stay focused on what you can't have.

If it was something really important to you, like a long-term relationship coming to a regrettable end, then yes, take some time to curl up in your sock drawer, eating a giant Hershey bar as you cry yourself to sleep (and guys, not only girls are allowed to do this). You deserve one night to express your pain. But don't hold onto that pain - let it all out, and then look towards something new.

If it was something that was just meh to you, accept that you didn't get it and move on. There are plenty of other fish out there that I guarantee you are more tasty than just meh.

And if it's a repeat reject, maybe it's time to change something. (This doesn't mean change yourself! This is more if you're an artist or entrepreneur of some type and your work just can't seem to take off.) Look at stuff from a different angle. You may see some new potential that could change the rejects to accepts.

Most importantly, no matter what type of rejection it is, just remember:

So, my question to you: How do you handle rejection?
And my challenge to you: Get rejected! That sounds like a horrible challenge, but truly, the more you get rejected, the better you're able to handle it. The first time I got rejected, I cried like a baby in the bathroom for an hour. Now I write a blog about rejection. Much healthier, don't you think? :)

Step 7: Om Mani Pame Hum

I realized after I posted my last blog that many people won't know what was meant when my sister's boyfriend said "Om mani pame hum." It also makes a great step in surviving life after college, so here's your crash course on a great Buddhist mantra.

Yes, Buddhist. My sister and her boyfriend are both Buddhist (my sister's actually the teacher at the Dromtonpa Kadampa Meditation Center in Indianapolis - there are some great classes there and at other locations around Indy that you should check out sometime), and though I'm not a Buddhist myself I do like their peaceful, meditative lifestyles. And my favorite practice of theirs is by far the om mani pame hum mantra.

This mantra is associated with Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion (you'd have to ask my sister or another Buddhist to explain exactly what a bodhisattva is, but the best I can explain it is as a Buddha - there's the main guy, but then there are a bunch of different Buddhas who stand for different things). When you chant "om mani pame hum" it's supposed to help bring about an air of peacefulness and calm.

The best way I can describe it is with an example.

I'm TERRIFIED of needles. You know that Hepatitis B immunization that you're supposed to get before you go into high school, the one that's supposed to prevent you from being in horrible pain should you get Hepatitis. Yeah. Never got it. On the rare occasions when my school system would find out that I'd missed a vital vaccination and they forced me to go to the doctor, I would scream so loud that other nurses would come into my room to see if my doctor needed any help. Happy to say I never had to be held down.

Anyways, a person who's terrified of needles never wants to be told that they're anemic. Especially severely anemic. Especially when they have a cross country coach who will force them to get their blood checked on a regular basis. The first few times I had to get my blood drawn, I cried. I stopped myself from screaming the very first time because my coach and her four-year-old daughter were there with me - I didn't want to freak the little girl out more than I already had.

Then my sister suggest I try chanting om mani pame hum before I went into the doctors office and while I was getting my blood drawn. I didn't have to chant it very loud - in fact, I think most of the time I was just running it through my head over and over. But that was the first time in 21 years that I didn't cry while having a needle stuck in me.

Granted, I'm still terrified of needles, but that mantra has made it easier to get the necessary blood work done (still holding off on the shots, though). It's also helped in all kinds of other stressful situation (if you want to hear about an example with my dog, check out my very first post in How to Survive the Animals After College).

So, my question to you: What's something that you're terrified of?
And my challenge to you: The next time you know you're going to be in that terrifying situation, try chanting om mani pame hum beforehand. You'll be amazed at what it can do.

Step 6: Land a Job Interview

Job interviews are terrifying - especially if it's only your third one! But, to quote my sister's wise boyfriend;

"From my own experience being involved in the hiring process, it's just as nerve-wracking for the interviewer as it is for you. OM MANI PAME HUM."

Though it may not calm you down entirely to know that your potential employer is just as stressed out as you are, there are some things that you can do to help ease your worries.

1. Know the company. Simply checking out their webpage and seeing what they're all about can help you see that they're not so big and scary.
2. Write down some answers to potential questions that might be asked and practice them. I found 100 Potential Interview Questions to be a particularly helpful list (don't worry, you don't have to go through them all - though some are pretty funny --- check out the "Brainteaser Questions" at the bottom of the page).
3. Pick out what you're going to wear the night before (and make sure there's not cat pee on your white tank top because it's been sitting in a basket for the past two weeks and your cat decides that that basket full of once-clean clothes would make a nice litter box).
4. Make sure you set your alarm to wake you up in plenty of time. Double check that you're not setting it too late and not including drive time in your morning schedule. Wake up when your cat meows at you an hour before your alarm goes off because for some reason he knows that you set your alarm too late (or else he knows his food bowl is empty).
5. Take a nice relaxing shower in the morning because you still believe you have all the time in the world to get ready. Not only does that shower calm your nerves, it helps you wake up after only getting three hours of sleep because you were so nervous and/or you've been sleeping in until two in the afternoon.
6. Remember to breath while you're driving to the interview. Passing out and hitting a stop sign is no way to get the job. 

And the most important thing is just to remember that it does get easier with time. Even though this was only my third interview (and even though I made the steps to calming down sound like I had an awful morning - yes, my cat did pee on my tank top, but no I didn't pass out and hit a stop sign), it actually was a lot easier than my first one.

So, my question to you: What trick do you use to help calm you down before an interview (or any stressful situation for that matter)?
And my challenge to you: If you've got a basket full of clean clothes, put 'em up! It's no fun putting on a shirt and having it smell like urine...

Step 5: Watch a New Kids' Movie

 Kids' movies are the best! Especially some of the newest ones (*cough*howtotrainyourdragon*cough*). But seriously, some of the newer kid movies (just like the awesome ones we used to watch when we were kids ourselves) have really great stories, characters, and artwork in them. And the best ones have great messages behind them.

Sometimes as adults, we forget these messages - valuing our friends, believing in ourselves, doing the right thing even when it's hard. Somewhere along the way, we stop believing in the magic that makes it possible for us to believe in these messages taught to us by the Disney classics.

Sure, we can always go back and watch The Fox and the Hound, Pocahontas, and any number of our childhood favorites safely in the privacy of our own homes. We can re-live that childhood magic for 90 minutes and then pop back in to the adult world. But that's the magic from the past. As adults, we need to see some magic from the present to remind us that there's still a chance for good to win in today's world.

And as silly as you'll feel being one of the oldest people in that theater, you'll feel ten times happier knowing that you didn't care what others thought while you enjoyed a really good dang movie!

So, my question to you: What's your favorite recent kids' film?
And my challenge to you: If you haven't seen a good children's film recently, go see one! I recommend any pictured here (*cough*howtotrainyourdragon*cough*).

>>Note: I love talking about movies and books and television shows, so I may or may not create a new page where I talk about the stories that I've recently read or watched. I just put up the new page with the animals, though, so I'm not sure yet about this page. Keep an eye out! :)

Step 4: Save Baby Kittens!

Here's one I bet you weren't expecting. It's always good to do a good deed, especially when it involves animals (and especially when it involves BABY animals).

This is Snow White with two of her own babies and five of Tiger Mama's babies (her picture's down below). These guys as well as another orphan litter of five were in a little bit of a pickle, so my sister and I swooped in to help them. They're all pretty sick (an upper respiratory infection, AKA a kitty cold), so when the animal shelter near my sisters house insinuated that they'd be put down, we took them all to a cheap clinic where the vet was nice enough to only charge us $65 for the visit, and two different types of antibiotics (trust me, $65 might sound like a lot, especially to a kid straight out of college, but I've paid $65 for a single pet's visit to a clinic, and that wasn't even including the treatment that they needed).

My sister took the five orphan kittens (who are a little bit older than the ones in these pictures so they should be fine without a mama) and I took these two litters (and they chose to be in the same crate - originally we had them separated, but when we shut them in our garage and left the crate doors open Snow White hopped over to Tiger Mom's bigger crate, so we moved her babies with her). We're going to get them healthier and then try to find a shelter or loving families that will take them.

Moral of the story, even if you're a poor broke former-college student, you can still afford to save lives. I'm going to give away the state I live in by saying this, but Indy Feral is a great place to start looking for help if you live in the Indianapolis area, though they primarily catch feral cats, spay/neuter them, and then release them back into the wild. There are also all kinds of cheap spay/neuter clinics (FACE clinic charges only $20 to spay/neuter), and sometimes these clinics also have cheap vaccines and other medicines. And of course there's your local animal shelter. Even if these places can't help you with your specific problem, they can point you to someone who can (and they can also point you to various vouchers and discount coupons).

So, my question to you: What are some good places that help animals in the area where you live? Obviously, no exact address for your place (you guys will never know exactly where in Indy I live), but if you know of an awesome place that takes in hurt animals, gives out vouchers, finds animals homes, ect, I'm sure there are people all over the country who would be interested.
And my challenge to you: Do something nice for your local shelter. Donate money or items, volunteer your time, or even adopt a pet if you're looking for a new friend. :3

P.S. If you're in the Indy area and you're looking for a kitten, I've got plenty!

>>Note: I will be starting up a new page on my blog about life after college and the animal world (animal lover here, if you guys couldn't guess). It'll have stories of domestic, socialized, and probably even some wild animals that I come into contact with now that I'm done with college, so keep an eye out for the new page!

Step 3: Apply for Jobs

Hey, you guys knew this was going to be one of the steps. We might as well get it out of the way early. The basics that we've all heard a million times in college and possibly even high school:

• Make a resume and keep it updated (seriously, keep it updated - it'll save time)
• Be professional
• Visit your career center
• Sign up for professional networking web sites, career finders, ect.
• Go to career fairs, and follow the proper protocol for following up with potential employers
• Network, network, network.

 And here are some of my personal tips:

• Don't apply for something that you don't really want. It took me two hours to apply for a single position. It's not worth your time to fill out an application for a job that you know you won't be happy at, even if you'll get a lot of money or you're a shoe in for the position.
• About a week after you turn in your application, if it's a job that you really really want, don't be afraid to contact the company if you haven't heard back from them. Sometimes you've got to be a little bit pushy to get what you want (but be polite about it!)
• Have an ultra-resume that has a list of everything you've ever done. And I mean EVERYTHING. My ultra-resume goes all the way back to when I was a Brownie in Girl Scouts. You never know when those good deeds from your childhood are going to come in handy, and it's much easier to cut and paste than to try to remember and re-write it.
• Tweak your resume and cover letter for every application so that you're sure your resume will reflect specific skills that each position is looking for.
• Keep a copy of each resume and cover letter that you send in. This will allow you to have a base for different kinds of jobs that you might apply for in the future. For example, I have one resume that I sent in to Wolf Park that high lights my experience working with animals and the environment and another resume for a position in college relations that shows my abilities as a writer. Depending on the type of job I'm applying for, I can pull up the appropriate old resume, take out old stuff, and put in new stuff. Save and repeat.

Now, I've only applied for seven positions in my short life (and gotten three), so here's my question for you (especially older, more experienced readers): What do you do to get the job?
And my challenge for you: When you do start your job hunt, honestly and truly, search for something that you at least think you'll enjoy. Even your dream job can get tiresome. I can't imagine starting at someplace that I knew I was going to be miserable at.

Step 2: Get Sick Early and get Healthy Fast

Getting sick SUCKS! Especially at the beginning of summer break (it's weird - I'm a college graduate, but I still consider this time of year the beginning of summer break). Getting sick early on does have its advantages, though. First off, you can take that time as another excuse to rest and relax (thus extending Step 1). But you can also use it to think about ways to get healthier.

Graduation is sort of like New Years Eve - it's a time for you to make resolutions. One resolution that a lot of people tend to make (both on New Years Eve and at the beginning of life after college) is to get healthier. Unfortunately, this resolution always seems to fall by the wayside. When you get sick right after making (and possibly breaking) your health-kick-resolution, though, it reminds you just how important it is to live a healthy life.

There are all kinds of things that you can do to get and stay healthy, the obvious being eating better and getting more exercise. This doesn't mean that you should spend every spare minute that you have at the gym only surviving off of Gatorade and carrot sticks. Those types of people will get sick too. You need to have a good balance of doing some sort of physical activity that you enjoy (running, basketball, swimming, walking your dog, jump roping, yoga, horse back riding, karate, water polo, thumb wrestling, regular wrestling, dancing, hell even safe sex) while eating on the healthier side of things (anything that comes from the ground is good, but don't forget to get your proteins and healthy fats in too).

So, my question to you: What's your health resolution for this summer?
And my challenge to you: Try some new form of physical activity this summer and let me know what you think of it. I'm a runner personally, but I'd love to try some new stuff, work some new muscles!

Step 1: Relax and Refocus

You need to take AT LEAST a week off after graduation. Take that time to sleep late into the afternoon with your cat, celebrate with friends and family at an open house, watch hours upon hours of television shows that you missed during the school year, drive 3 hours to Kings Island with your friend only to turn right around when you realize that it's still closed during the week, sleep some more, drink, go to a casino, eat some decent food.

Take that time to answer the one question that almost everyone will ask you: What are you going to do now that you're done with school? Take that time to realize that whenever you answer that question, you're really just bullshitting. Sure, we've all got plans; dreams that we're reaching for. But no one really knows what they want to do, even if they think they do.

"I'm going on to grad school." "I'm going to get a job." "A part time job." "Maybe I'll take a year off." "Travel?" "I'm definitely going to work on my writing." "I'll start up a blog!" "My blog's going to be about surviving life after college. That's original!" (100 Inspirational Blogs for Life After College).

No matter what anyone says, it's alright not to know exactly what your future looks like the second that diploma's in your hand. That's why it's so important to take a break and give your brain a chance to relax before you hit it with the tough life questions.

So, my not-tough-life-question to you: If you had one week off where you could do whatever you wanted, what would it be?
My challenge for you: Regardless of if you'vejust graduated, your on summer vacation, or you've got a break coming your way at work, go spend one week however you want.