Eighteen

Life seems to have come to a bit of a standstill. Eighteen/nineteen is the age where you’re either in the new chapter of education, with some sort of plan, or you’re abit clueless and stuck because you decided to stop reading that book and write a new chapter on your own.

There’s those who feel university is the natural progression and go for it, and those who are afraid of the change, unsure of what it’ll bring to the next three years of your life. This time period is like the transition stage to adulthood: proper adulthood where you have a fully realised plan of your career, you’re either there, halfway there already, or you know how to get there. but its a time of uncertainty.

Not going to university is a decision made due to a few things. Mostly fear of the unknown, fear of change, and uncertainty of how valuable it will be. So many people say it’ll be the best time of your life, but it might not look overly appealing at this stage in this ‘transition period’. Preferably,there’d be enthusiasm and excitement surrounding it all but there just isn’t. Perhaps it’ll arise in the next couple years once the apprehension has died down and more has been realised.

But with that choice has come this standstill. There’s the fact you’re still in your hometown, and just working, day in day out at that retail job you’ve had for the past one or two years. As you’re not at school anymore you’ve picked up more hours and earn the money. There’s little enthusiasm and passion. Even if you haven’t decided on your career goal, you at least know it’s probably not working where you do right now.

If you have more of an idea of your career goals then it’s the clueless-ness on how to get there. It’s the trying to get work experience and continue improving in your chosen field, without that push from further education. However it may turn out that, yes, you do need a degree to get there but that could take a few years to realise, and by then, after that realisation you may have that drive and want to go get one. And that’s fine, that’s good, there isn’t any rush.

Even though at this stage it feels like there is. A pressure to go onto that natural progression which is a very expensive three or four year course, because that’s how most people succeed right? Otherwise you’ll probably be stuck in that retail job.

However the hometown boredom isn’t actually so bad. You’re happy and free from the stress of unavoidable deadlines etc. There’s independence and – when that career plan is realised – self-set targets, which can be worked on freely. The earnings from that dead-end job can go towards future plans, whatever they may be. And the presence of loved ones, despite the ones who took a different path, is still fully appreciated, probably more so now than before.

Behind the often overpowering and engulfing uncertainty there is optimism.

Laura Sewell