22 Realizations You Have During Your First Year Out Of College

    Oh, so this is what a starting salary looks like...

    1. "Need" and "want" are two very different things.

    2. You're handed this massive bill WITH your diploma.

    3. Knowing how to cook is more important than knowing what the best restaurant around is.

    4. Apartment hunting means making major sacrifices.

    5. 99.9% of the time you can't be picky when it comes to your first job.

    6. Grocery shopping is actually a challenge, and you wish there was a class on it in college.

    7. Sitting home on a Friday night with Netflix and a glass of wine is more fun than going out and spending your paycheck.

    8. Your parents will become your best friends, because all you do is call them to ask how to be an adult.

    9. And getting in bed by 10:30 is the best feeling in the world after a full day of work.

    10. You thought Girls was fiction, but it is way more true to life than you're comfortable with.

    11. Work isn't too different from school.

    12. Just because you didn't meet "the one" in college, doesn't mean you missed your opportunity.

    13. "I dont know" will be the most important weapon in your arsenal.

    14. Hearing, "Your twenties are the best years of your life" makes you feel like you're doing something wrong.

    15. Having nights of tear-inducing nostalgia about college is common and normal, but doesn't mean that the best is over.

    16. The only thing that gets you through your 9 to 5 workday is coffee, even if you weren't a coffee drinker before.

    17. The aging process rapidly speeds up after 21.

    18. And your metabolism will suddenly slow down.

    19. Every time you break something in your apartment, you feel it's a sign that you don't know how to be an adult.

    20. Office parties are way more awkward than college parties, because everybody seems like they're in their own comfortable clique.

    21. Being post-grad does not mean you know what you want out of life.

    22. It will feel like everyone has their shit together, but in reality you're all in the same twentysomething limbo.