Now that I’m out of graduate school, I’m finding that I have more time on my hands to spend on the little joys of life. You know…. like leisurely reading Chick Lit.
A friend of mine recommended that I read “Something Borrowed” so that we could watch the movie over popcorn, Pepsi, and the big screen at the movie theatre. I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and totally consumed it from cover to cover in just a few days. THIS is how I like my drama – in black and white and printed on dog-eared pages.
I found out that I related a lot to the protagonist, Rachel. Not because I’m a fiance-stealing-hussy (I’m not, by the way, and I did have some compassion for her love triangle situation and dealing with that insufferable “best friend” Darcy), but because, here she was – the proverbial Smart Girl who had studied hard, graduated from a top university, had an ultra super status-y career, and was hating every minute of her job.
I wish they had explored more of her career angst, actually. She was making a solid 6 figures and still it couldn’t replace the fact that how she was spending at least 40 hours of her waking hours per week (and more like 60-80, if she’s a corporate lawyer) wishing that she was doing something else.
I earn FAR less than 6 figures, but I know exactly how it feels to wake up at 30 years old, face your day to go into work and feel like… “All of these years in school I was prepping to go into an office and count down the days until Friday.” Bummer, right?
It’s not exactly what I had imagined my career would look like. But then again I hadn’t done as much imagining as I should.
I shared with ya’ll my experience of identifying a compelling reason to go to grad school. Problem is…. that I hadn’t done a whole lot of exploration of what comes on the other side. Some very smart person once said that hindsight is 20/20. And I wholeheartedly agree, because looking back, I can think of tons of questions I didn’t have the foresight to think about beforehand:
- What kind of work won’t actually feel like work?
- Are people actually graduating and settling into their careers happy with the work that they do?
- What happens if I decide mid-stream during grad school that I’m not interested in data sets and statistical analysis? Then what?
- What if I have to move to Lower Siberia during the middle of the rest of my youth (you know, the one I sacrificed during grad school) to have a viable career?
- What kind of nontraditional job options are available to people who graduate from my program?
Some smart person also said that with age comes wisdom. And my wiser 30 year old self says that the difference between going into grad school and emerging on the other side happy and – well, counting down the hours till 5 o’clock everyday – is developing and refining a clear vision of the perfect career for you. It means embarking on your grad school journey with clarity on how you’d like to spend your days on the other side of the degree. And if (or when) situations change, you have an idea of, OK, now what next? What other possibilities do I have that won’t have me hating Monday mornings?
You ask questions and you ask more questions till you get the answers. You ask them of yourself before you embark down an esteemed path that isn’t right for you. You ask others who have traveled the path before you to determine if you need to make a detour. You ask them now because time is a precious commodity and although troubles don’t last always, being miserable definitely feels like an eternity.
