A Different World, Literally

“A Different World” is my all-time favorite show. I watched the entire series (including season 1) my freshman year of college and have re-watched it four more times. To share some perspective on how much I love the show, Whitley and Freddie are my favorite characters. . I even own a ‘Hillman College’ shirt, which I proudly bought on Amazon Prime.

I’m currently rewatching (more like binge-watching)  the series for the fifth time and it feels unreal, to say the least. This is the first time I feel like I can relate to the characters’ exact feelings as they experience so many things other than finals. Season 4 shows Whitley unsure of what to do after graduation, a feeling I knew all too well. If I were to skip to season 6, I’d still relate to Whitley’s struggle to find a job. Even Ron & Dwayne questioned their life paths a few times. This is the first time I feel exactly the same way my favorite characters do, and it’s… unsettling.

I worked hard all through college and began applying to jobs about 3 months prior to graduation. The closer I got to graduation, the more applications I sent. I started losing track of how many versions of my résumé existed and kept going. Then, I graduated and had to admit to everyone who asked that I hadn’t yet secured a full-time job. To tell the truth, I still haven’t.

I realize I spent so much time looking forward to post-grad life and the joys of finally having my degree that I overlooked the “downsides” that would inevitably come. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect to find a job immediately after graduation (we can’t all be Jaleesa, after all) but I didn’t anticipate the job hunt to be this hard either. I disregarded how exhausted I would feel after rewriting my cover letter and résumé. I didn’t realize how much faster my heart would beat when I receive an email from a potential employer, or how disappointed I’d be if I didn’t get a response at all.

I’ve never wanted to admit to it, but I’m dealing with post-grad depression. There are days when I just want to lay in bed and watch movies. Sometimes, I even have to log out of my social media accounts so I don’t see my college friends living their best lives at tailgates or enjoying their own post-grad lives. It’s really hard sometimes.

It’s been about 7 months since I crossed the stage and earned my diploma. It’s been hard, but rewatching my favorite show is more than an escape. Like I said, I feel more like the “A Different World” characters than I ever have because, for the first time in my life, I don’t really know what I’m going to do next. I totally get what Denise, Whitley, Ron & Dwayne all dealt with when their life’s paths shifted.

Timing Is Everything

As I’m rewatching the show, the main point I take away is always the timing. I have to remind myself that good things take time, even if it takes longer than I’d prefer. As hard as it is, the right time can never be rushed. Things eventually work themselves out, and time is subjective anyway. If Whitley Gilbert-Wayne can find joy in teaching inner city kids; Denise Huxtable can take a year, go to Africa and “find herself;” and Ron Johnson can become a businessman, then I’ll figure everything out when the time is right.

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Photos courtesy of Randall Collins of Collins Collectives.