For the anyone who has just met a milestone like a new job, your first time moving out, finishing that huge term paper, or finally accomplishing that do-it-yourself project that you’ve been putting off forth months…you met a goal. And, of course, “now what?” is the question that follows nearly every time an accomplishment comes into conversation.

For me, and many others, college graduation is slowly creeping up and it’s made me notice something about goal-setting, and even goal-meeting. I haven’t heard as many people say how exciting it is to graduate, as I have heard say they’re scared of the future’s uncertainty. I couldn’t even count how many people I’ve heard say that they would like to talk about anything other than what they’re doing next, because they truly have no idea.

And that is OKAY. I repeat, it is totally okay to have absolutely no idea what you are doing after you graduate, or finish paying off your debt, or whatever is it you JUST finished accomplishing. What isn’t okay is the lack gratification people feel they deserve after reaching any goal.

In such a competitive world, it is terribly easy to put yourself down and say, “Well, it’s no big deal, it’s only [insert accomplishment here].” As if reaching your goal was nothing to be excited about, since other people are working much harder and doing much bigger, better things, at even younger ages.

Maybe it’s okay to compare when you’re inspired to be “just as good,” or as successful as someone else, but not if it means putting yourself down and undermining your own successes. To set a goal and reach it, no matter how big or small, is something to be celebrated. A chapter is closed and you, the author, deserve to share your story with triumph. People will continue to ask, “So, what are you doing next?” And here is my (personal) favorite way of thinking about this question:

Life is a book made up of a million short stories; it is not a novel. That means it won’t always make sense or go in coherent order when we want or expect it to. That also means your answer of what is to come does not have to make sense to the world, either. You just accomplished a big goal, which took hundreds of steps, repeated trial and error, and boatloads of effort. So if “what’s next,” just means taking time to plan an entirely new goal, then by all means, you deserve it!

Reward yourself with a free mind and the pride you deserve to feel. Not everyone can just say, “I’m going to do this!” and make it actually happen. You did. That’s a pretty big deal.

It’s okay to not know what’s next, and nobody should be expected to tell fortunes about their own lives. It is not okay to feel that your accomplishments in the present are not enough to talk about, right now.