What are you doing here?

You’ve got a college degree, what are you doing here?
That question echoes in my head like a song I can’t forget.
4 years of school, then to be dropped off in the “real” world with fear.
Will this degree get me to where I want to be or will I get more debt?

The expectations are different from what I envisioned.
Success felt defined by others, a road pre-planned.
I’m here, wondering if I’ve been abandoned,
By promises of a future built with my own hands.

The “American dream” is what I was aiming for.
A great job, house, family, what more could I want,
A 9-5 job to pay for this dream only to bore.
The dream was impossible and simply haunted me.

What are you doing here? The question appears again.
Search for meaning beyond pretense.
In a city pulsing with dreams and despair,
Searching for purpose in the open air.

I am here, degree in hand, waiting for the ray of hope,
Not success by design, but by living each day.
In the quiet moments, I hear it echo in my head “What are you doing here?”