When I graduated last May I had one question: When do I feel like an adult?

Was it when the Temple Daily Telegram, the daily newspaper in Temple, hired me to be their Bell County and Belton reporter?

Was it when I found my first real apartment?

Or was it when people started calling me sir and Mr. Sanchez?

A few weeks ago at work, I asked my more experienced co-workers that question.

One co-worker, who has worked at the Telegram for more than 20 years and has been a journalist for most of her life, explained to me that no one has that aha! moment of being an adult.

“You’ll never feel like an adult,” she said.

And then it clicked: It doesn’t matter if I ever feel like an adult. What matters is that I use my platform as a reporter to tell people what’s going on—good and bad—in their community.

Being an adult isn’t a feeling; it’s just a phrase that scares us. There’s nothing to be afraid of once you graduate. Find your job and just live.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from Jena Heath, the advisor of Hilltop Views. And I’m going to give it to y’all.

When I started looking for jobs, Jena told me to look beyond Austin and even the great state of Texas. She’s right.

Look, unless you’re some stellar programmer and can land a very high-paying entry-level job (that’s an oxymoron) here in Austin, you need to get out of the Capital city.

Austin, while I love it, is expensive. It also lacks many of the jobs that students get a degree in.

So unless you want to be slinging triple shot caramel macchiatos at Starbucks for the foreseeable future, move from Austin.

The city will always be there, trust me.

Obviously I haven’t taken the other part of Jena’s advice seriously just yet. But toward the end of my job hunt I had started looking at jobs outside of the Lone Star State.

And who knows? Perhaps I’ll end up in a different state soon.

You don’t know what’s out there just waiting for you to take it on.