293 Finding Your Journey, Where to Start

I have been meaning to post this for a long time, I just felt it wasn’t the right time and this wasn’t a piece of work I wanted to rush. I wanted to spend time thinking about it and write it at a good pace. I was still trying to figure it out, I didn’t know what I wanted to say, and I was trying to get myself sorted, I’m not quite there yet but I do feel now is a good time to share.

So last year, there was a big change in my life shortly after I had a couple of accidents and was a bit poorly, so I was 100% underprepared, and it was a rushed change. I would have liked it to work out a bit differently, but it didn’t, so I had to work with what I got.

Those of you, that know me will know I finished my college course in June 2017 and started in the “real world”. Now, to start with I don’t agree with calling it the “real world”, college is just like school and university. What about working full time makes it the “real world”? Studying isn’t fake, it’s not easy, and it’s not simple. Like most others I didn’t know what to expect when I entered the “real world”, I mean at the end of the day we have done everything else up to this point by learning about it for weeks and taking a test at the end. Life doesn’t come with a textbook and final exam; it comes with many things that you must work out for yourself or with your friends and family. Do schools, colleges and universities help with life after studies? I think they help you pass and get them a good reputation but not necessarily how to survive when you’re outside their environment.

At the end of your studies, you will know how successfully you can study and pass an exam, but you are starting over again the day you pick up your results, you are back at 0 and there is nothing to tell you how to the next level. There are guides such as family and friends but there are no marks, there is no right way to do it. This makes finishing studies for most people very scary; some even avoid it for as long as possible. The number of people who I know that went to University instead of going into full-time because they didn’t know what they wanted to do as a career, or they weren’t ready for full-time jobs.

I am now 6 months into the “real world”, not the world I expected to be in but in some cases, you must make do with what you have got. I can safely say it isn’t as scary as it seems. It is what you make it; I mean it does put your organisation skills to the test. Generally, if it is an accident being late isn’t the end of the world. Things that were made a big deal at school aren’t as bad. It doesn’t mean it is okay to do those things but it’s not as big a consequence as teachers make it out to be.

I also thought that once you have worked full-time for a couple of months you would get into a decent routine of when you get up when you go to bed etc. So far, that hasn’t worked for me. I believe this is my fault though, you must put yourself in a routine, and you can’t just magically fall into one.

The second half of the year is a lot busier than the first half for me so I hope that now it is a quiet couple of months, I can get into a routine. It will be a lot easier when I get a routine down, it can always change but I want the basics there.

So, don’t listen to those people talking about the “real world”, you are alive which means you are living the real world no matter if you are working or studying or between the two. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, it is your journey so you will create the route and decide the destination. Learning to live after your studies is hard, so unless you have asked for advice, choose if you follow it or not. You will learn how to live your life as you go; there isn’t a right or wrong way.