As I confusedly plod on through a weird stage of life, being dropped from the student bubble into the real world, I shall turn to my faithful blog simply because it is more enjoyable than applying for jobs.
I have lived in four different houses over the past three years, I find sitting through a whole film very challenging, and I resent my Blackberry simply because I've had it for a year. In short - I get bored easily. But really, we hate change; no matter how much one tries to convince oneself that change is nothing but exciting. I have slowly come round to realise that, after 21 years, I now, for the first time, have to work in order to live. Work, earn, eat. Life really is simple.
However I find myself, or more specifically, my overactive brain, contemplating much beyond this simple transition. The thought of entering the world of work terrifies me, and not only because I know that sleeping through an alarm comes as naturally to me as breathing. I've always been one to seek comfort in the future, to make up for any present under-achievements. For the past year, I have endured a very poor excuse of a journalism course and battled through numerous hurdles. The thoughts that kept me going always began with 'after uni, when I....', and the world seemed like a brighter place all due to the hope that once I had control of my life, I could steer it towards happiness.
Well, now the time is here. I have an okay-ish CV, the ability to bluff in interviews, and a world of opportunity. What I didn't foresee was that this is, in fact, the biggest hindrance. The scariest thing I am now facing is that I have the chance to make a life for myself, I possesses the beautiful thing that is control.
What if my habit of a lifetime never ends? What if I continuously project a better future as a relief for the present? I may have learnt a few things about journalism over the last three years, but I have no idea how to accept a job and remove my head from the clouds. I realise that this train of thought is offensively pessimistic, but I am an adult now, and so I must act accordingly.
I dont think its offensively pessimistic, I think its just reality. It is the way it is. For a lot of people. Get up, go to work, come home, sleep, repeat. For 35 years. Living in the hope of a better future as a relief for the present is just something that is pummelled into us daily through the media, our workplace etc, when in actual fact progress can be really slow. So, why not just accept the present, really look at how things are. Identify what you really do have control of and use that to keep yourself happy. Doing things we dont want to do is a fact of life - Im sure neanderthal man didnt want to starve all winter, but hey....So, take up hobbies, and treat 'work' as it is, a means to an end, but always keep an eye out for that opportunity to get out or improve. Lets face it, you can give your all to a company, and when it suits them, they drop you like a hot brick. Youre a means to an end to them too, never forget that. Some people take up hobbies, start a family, write a book, run a political campaign, others go out and get s***faced every weekend. Id rather you wrote a book, but, hey its an expression of the same thing: escape. Life is what happens while youre making plans, no harm in that. Good luck.
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