Do you ever get a feeling like you’re just kind of floating around life? Not really sure what you are doing, what you are good at, and/or what you really want to be doing?
Well this is the stage I have found myself at. At first, I felt pretty overwhelmed and a little bit scared. Lots of my friends have gone into grown-up jobs where they wear suits and will probably have to start pretending to read The Financial Times. Some of my other friends have gone on to do Masters degrees… another year of being a student yay – another dissertation boo. People keep asking me what I’m ‘up to’ now, what my ‘plan’ is. Well, folks, I do not have a ‘plan’. And the more I have spoken to people around me, I have realised that I am not alone.
I have been applying for jobs in the areas that I am interested in, all short-term contracts. When I tell people (mainly proper adults) that nothing I have applied for is a permanent role, they seem to recoil in horror. But, your qualifications and experience! You could apply for positions with much more responsibility (and money)! These types of comments are coming in left, right and centre from sensible adults.
Unfortunately, I’m just not interested in committing my entire life away at 22. I have worked hard to get a good degree, and now I feel like this is my chance to get some of that elusive ‘life experience’. I am certainly not mature enough for mortgages, babies or any of that scary stuff. I want to try lots of things, that being jobs, cultures and whatever else is out there, until I find something that is really Me. And now that I have realised that my ‘plan’ is to live in the present, and try lots of exciting things, I’m feeling pretty happy about that.
After having discussions like this with my family and close friends, people have begun to disclose that they feel a similar ‘lost-ness’. Even people that seem extremely happy, content and successful to the naked eye, have admitted that they are not sure if they have made the right decisions, or are happy with their life choices. Some great advice that I have received is that, nobody really knows what they are doing. But that’s OK!
by Kimberley White
A Curious Unicorn 