GRADUATE PERSPECTIVE “If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it
hard to plan the day.”
52
Upon leaving the University of Warwick in 2010 I was a 22 year old with four years of physics-study behind me. I had enjoyed 2 joyous years of debauchery with Warwick Surf Club, was a veteran employee and patron of Kelsey’s (the scummiest but best bar in the neighbouring town of Leamington Spa) and my well developed skill for oversleeping had never been better.
Now, almost 2 years later I work for an information exploitation consultancy in London. I have invested in a better alarm clock which sometimes manages to wake me up on time. I have spent 18 months working as a ‘young professional’ getting to know London (it’s a bit bigger than Wigan), and have saved a total of £0.
Reality check
The driven, high-achieving world that I had imagined I would inhabit post graduation has a much lower population than I originally thought. In my experience, most graduates are riddled with uncertainty; even those who really enjoy what they do. I see now to be true what I always quietly suspected – any thinking person always has at least a faint background hum of doubt in their mind. I find this tremendously re- assuring.
The lucky few that have decided what they want to do will chase their dream, but the rest of us (normals) get our first job out of university in order to tread financial water. Does it pay for rent, bills,
transport, food and going out? Cool, I’ll take it.
Pressure to commit
The trap I fell into in final year was imagining that I was selling my soul into one profession for the remainder of my days.
Usually about 3am in the Learning Grid (Warwick’s 24-hour library), I would imagine listening to a 40-year-old me talk about what I did at work. This internal monologue bored me to death and I could talk myself into and out of a career path in an energy-drink fuelled haze in seconds, dismissing it as preposterous that I would even consider doing something as tedious as that! What am I THINKING!? If only onlookers knew that the innocuous, tired-looking guy wearing headphones and staring gormlessly into the middle-distance was actually engaged in very serious hypothetical discussions about his career path with his future self.
Analysis-paralysis
My analytical physics-guy side and my laid-back demeanour still meet in fierce battle when it comes to the tiresome question of ‘what should I do with my life?’ The brilliant quote from E. B. White, above, sums up the philosophical dilemna with clarity.
There is no rule book and no right answer. There exists an entire continuum of possible worldviews upon which these two outlooks lie. And what’s more, a person may not exist at only one point on this continuum all the time. I rarely manage to remain at one point for more than a few hours before changing my mind. Expectations and the freedom to change.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56