What is the "real world"?

American college kids all gather together at frat parties where they dance on elevated surfaces for long hours and gloat to the rest of the world about how fun and free their lives are. You can get drunk every night of the week, you can skip class if you want to. Your life is full of spontaneous freedom and minimal consequences. 

Many of these same students major in something practical, often business, not out of passion but because it aligns with what’s marketable.

They say it’s the best four years of your life and then you are off to "the real world". It is a phrase commonly employed by your parents and professors, to refer to the realities of work, financial independence, and the responsibilities that come with adulthood. The realm of corporate jobs, a linear career path, and the eventual goal of retirement will be what your life revolves around after you get that diploma. The party is over </3

And most kids seem to follow this path of exchanging youthful freedom into a rigid system of corporate conformity under the guise of entering 'the real world.'

A job at Deloitte, EY, or KPMG; an apartment in New York or Chicago; long hours in sterile rooms; and after-work drinks where you swap party stories from Wisco, Cornell, and Emory. The cycle continues: promotions, occasional job hops, and weekends filled with attempts to feel alive again. Meanwhile, their parents—who spent 40 years working—are seen as role models for finally retiring to Naples.

Why do students from elite universities, and their educated parents, consider a commute to a corporate office in midtown Manhattan followed by 12 hours of working in a desolate room "the real world"?  What could possibly be real about this, aside from the salary? What is real about being in an office for 40 years?

Is this the only version of adulthood we’re allowed to imagine?

This paradigm is limited in its ability to capture the full spectrum of the human experience. This whole life path often comes at the cost of personal well-being, creativity, and genuine fulfillment. The "real world" is quite literally everything else that is out there.

Excel sheets don’t teach you how to communicate, how to honestly express yourself, how to learn about the needs of the people of the world, or how to create something on your own of value.

We need to redefine our standard of what the real world is. We need to push for a paradigm shift that values a life composed of the diverse experiences we encounter, the relationships we cultivate, and the beauty we find in our everyday lives.

A collective reset to think about "what work of mine can I put out into the world?"

A redefinition of success as the pursuit of passions, the exploration of new ideas, and the cultivation of inner peace.

Pursuing the ideas above will surely result in diversity and unpredictability, things that remind us of our humanity and our place within the larger world.

If you feel trapped in your "real world" routine, and realize you have barely dipped your toes into what is out there, I encourage you to think of what you would do if given your own sabbatical, find the ways for you to save up, and let it happen.

I am a by product of this, and I will offer you the simplest advice I can on how you can break out of this cycle for the time being, or at least a rough idea of what I did to find more free time:

Work for a few years and save aggressively: If you can save just 20% of your salary for three years, that’s enough to fund a year off. Cut Amazon purchases. Pause the impulse buys. Skip a dinner out with friends and put that $50 somewhere else. Read about how to invest. Learn about the ETF's..really just VOO. 

Ditch your lease: This is tough, because we all want our own personal space. But also if you are sinking money into an apartment shared with 2 other people in the depths of Bed-stuy, you still don't actually have personal space. Call your parents, or a random uncle, and see if you could crash at their place for a little to save up. Or house-sit. Call a BFF with a big couch and see if you could stay for a some time while you work on a personal project. 

Pick up a weekend shift. Working at a restaurant or doing freelance work can boost your income and give you flexibility. I worked at a random Mexican restaurant for 3 months and that helped immensely. It was also a ton of fun. Flirt with everyone and rack in tips. 

Skip the corporate sabbatical. Some companies offer a one-month sabbatical after five years. 1 month off is almost a standard European vacation. You can give yourself that sabbatical now, on your terms, by saving and planning ahead. Don't do it under someone else's permission. 

Ask yourself "What would I do if I had a year off?"- What would I build? Where would I go? Who would I become?

Once you have your answers, build towards making that happen.