This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bristol chapter.
As memories of exam stress melt away into the summer break, the new academic year is already looming just around the corner, and for many of us it represents our final year. Final year comes with a lot academic pressure, including the dreaded dissertation which seemed like an ocean of years away when you were carelessly dancing the night away at your first ‘Itchy Feet’ event back in First Year. Now the only itch in your feet is the nagging question “so what are your plans when you graduate?” The truth is, it’s darn scary. Sure, it would be a weight lifted to have a £40k job to slip into, to have a ‘life plan’ or a significant other to consider, but for those of us who aren’t in this situation, I propose an unusual outlook on graduation.
In the midst of a breakdown about graduating and having “absolutely no clue about what to with the rest of my life”, my mum moved me with some wise words. She told me she was envious of me. She was engaged to my dad at nineteen and despite having a career she loves and children she adores (of course!), she told me she wished she had the freedom I had right now. She explained that I would never be here ever again, not tied down by anyone or anything, facing a world of possibilities. She encouraged me to rethink my answer to the generic question of my future. The answer I’ve since formulated? I’m going to do anything, anything I fancy.
How many people do you know that are in the job role they initially graduated into, even in the same industry? Most people I know who love their jobs love them because they carefully crafted their way into them. They gave this and that a go, they took that business card and emailed that person that their nan’s hairdresser knows. They didn’t get a degree in a relevant subject, they didn’t get firsts in all their units, they lived their life, got experience and seized the opportunities as they arose.
In thirty years’ time no one is going to remember if you dossed around for a couple of years after university. People are going to see the person you’ve become. Swimming around the pond of life will make you a happier, more refined fish than you would have been if you never dived in. There are plenty of other fish in the sea who are doing exactly what you’re doing; according to the Telegraph 1 in 4 21 year-old graduates are unemployed.
If that hasn’t gone some way to easing your final year frantic flaps, your job might not even exist yet! Just take a look— what’s the point in stressing about your future career when it doesn’t even exist yet?