Today, I’m going to be writing about something a lot of people don’t like to talk about. But it’s not something that involves everyone, so I guess I should explain the people involved.
The people I’m talking about here are people in their early adult years who just graduated University. And what don’t they like to talk about?
THE FUTURE!
How do I know about it? Well, I happen to fall inside the category of people in this age group and period, and this is almost everyone’s waking problem these days. We live in the future now.
The past weeks, a lot of my friends and class mates from University have been in a thinking-about-the-future limbo, specifically where their lives are headed (careers) and what they’ll do after National Service ends.
Lol if I’m being honest, this period is one scary period! It’s no longer a class, or a group of friends at a party, but everyone you sat with in the lecture halls is out there living their own live (and probably confused and struggling with the same things you’re struggling with). This is a period of loneliness for many who are not used to living by themselves or being alone. They got cozied up in the comfort of the size and presence of everyone in the classroom and by their use of first person collectives like “we”.
The problem with the confusion I reckon, is that the roadmap ends after you leave University, so you’re left confused with the repetitive echo of “what next?”.
When you start out in school around here, you go through 6 years standard primary school, 3 years Junior high school, another 3 years Senior high school, and 2-6/7 years depending on what you do in University. See how there’s a clear outline there? Go from A, move to B, and then C. The big headache is that after University, there’s no roadmap on what to do next because your choices are literally limitless and if you don’t know what you’re passionate about and want to do with your life, you’re going to have a hard time choosing.
What I’ve observed is that some people have no real passion. They just want to do anything that pays, and they don’t find a problem with that, so neither can you. A potential downside to that though is going through the process of the “whatever”. If you get into something you’re genuinely passionate about, chances are that you’ll not only enjoy the process, but you’ll persevere when the process gets tough. You fall very short on perseverance when you don’t really care much about what is stressing you.
I’m no expert in figuring shit like this out myself, talk-less of helping someone figure their shit out, but I mostly encourage people to look at what they see themself doing (a job or whatever) in the next 3 years and choose their next step to be something that leads to that. I’ve identified mine and am currently working on the steps right now.
It’s a really tough time especially for graduates in their 20s who are about to finish their service term. Because aside the fact that they’re worried about things like jobs and their finances, they’re deeply worried about ending up as failures. “What if I don’t make the right choice?” “What if I later realize this wasn’t what I wanted”. Stuff like that.
Me personally, if I was an adult who’s had their life already figured out and maybe successful, this would be the time to talk to your graduate brother or niece, let them understand it’s a totally normal phase (I think?) and help them navigate the next chapters of their lives.
Lol there’s so much to say about this topic but my midnight motivation ends here. I’m going to put this up as soon as I can or I might end up curly-toe cringing reading this another time. Lol