As graduation comes and goes, young adults stand at the brink of a thrilling yet daunting transition. It can feel like a crossroads with too many choices, or a cliff dropping off into the unseeable future, the precipice of the unknown. It’s a time filled with excitement for the possibilities ahead, but also tinged with uncertainty about the “right” path forward.

But this journey doesn’t have to be charted alone. Having shared those same feelings of uncertainty, three retirees offer insights from their own experiences, providing reassuring advice for graduates standing where they have once stood.

Michael Rau On Choice

Changing your mind doesn’t have to stop the moment you walk across the stage at graduation. Those first steps with your diploma in hand are only the beginning of a new journey, not the end of the road by far. Take a cue from Rau’s vibrant path across diverse career and academic fields throughout his life. “To me, variety is the spice of life,” said Rau. He’s never viewed life as a singular, linear path, but instead a winding forest of opportunity, taking him from the diesel-grease-stained halls of a junior college, where he studied auto mechanics out of an obligation to help his family around their family farm, to the military, where those technical skills came into use as an aviation mechanic. He later got his degree in psychology at the University of Oregon to better understand child psychology in the face of impending fatherhood. “I didn't want to make any mistakes,” said Rau. And he didn’t stop there — his path after academia stretched from starting a construction business to working for an engineering company to starting his own bed-and-breakfast, never sticking to one job or business for too long. Each endeavor was simply another brushstroke in the canvas of his life, a masterpiece he continues to work on even in retirement. Now, he channels his skills into teaching woodworking at Campbell Community Center along the Willamette River in Eugene.

Charmaine Foltz On Money

There’s often this unspoken societal hush on the topic of money. Yet the pressing reality of finances is a worry shared across generations. Foltz reflects on the challenges of affording post-secondary education as a single mother raising a son alone. She often found herself living below poverty levels through her years in vet school and residency, as student loans piled up. Foltz admits that she didn’t get all of her debt paid till her 50s. She notes that she didn’t understand the full complexities of finances until it was too late. She recommends educating yourself young before making spontaneous decisions with long-term consequences. “Understand your credit rating,” she emphasized and recommends educating yourself young before making impulsive choices.

Hollie Roman On Success

For Roman, the most significant moment of her career occurred 15 years ago. Just as she was ready to leave for the day, arms already packed with papers to grade long into the evening, she received a call through the office, It was a deep voice on the phone who said, “My name is Alan Tran.” Roman immediately recognized the name. “I don't forget any of my students,” she said. She’d had him in second grade. The former student, now an adult, told Roman that he and a number of other alums were planning a reunion, and asked Roman to be the surprise guest. What finally brought her to tears was seeing what many of her former students arrived wearing. Every year during the holidays, she would make scarves for each of her students. When she walked into the reunion, Roman saw many of her former students wearing the scarves she’d made for them so many years ago. It was the physical representation of her time and dedication. Seeing her former students as successful adults in the world, who had kept the deep personal connections they’d made with their elementary school classmates so long ago represented what has always been Roman’s ultimate goal in education.

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For recent college graduates, the odyssey onto the next chapter of their lives might be a scary one, but it doesn’t have to be traversed alone, with the wisdom of retirees like Michael Rau, Charmaine Foltz and Hollie Roman serving as a guiding light towards a future full of possibilities.