Life After University

Former Member

Everyone told me I was going to love university, and even though they didn't have to be the 'best days' of my life, I loved it.

Nevertheless, I had no idea what life was going to be like AFTER I graduated from university. As if I'm stuck in purgatory, constantly told to 'get a job' and that I'm being lazy, when in reality I'm just scared to start a job I don't like because of other people's pressure, and then be stuck there for all time.

There are a lot of my friends who have already lined up their next degrees or placements, which makes me think 'crap, I really should have prepared myself more,but I just have no idea what I want to do. I don't have anything that interests me, I don't have any talent I can use, and I don't have the money to immediately start a masters to prolong the inevitable part of my life where I'm no longer a student.

You can share your stress here if you are in the same position of being lost and unsure of what to do next (no matter what age you are, whether you're 15 or 50), because I didn't endure years of acne and awkward sex to believe that I would have my shit together by the age of 21, only to be spat out after education and even more confused and anxious than I was. Let's discuss how much stirrer life can be by discussing how many shit-stirrers exist.

kaii

Hey @mixmal, I can see that it's your first post here, so I'd just like to say welcome to our community

Thank you for reaching out. As a fellow undergraduate, I can resonate with what you've said about not knowing what to do after university. As well as this, I have to make my choices about what to study in my 3rd year in April, and I just have no clue yet. I understand how pressuring it feels after seeing your friends know what they're doing, since you mentioned that they're lining up for degrees or placements. But I know that there is always time to figure things out - and it's the same for you.

Perhaps during this time, you can try and connect with yourself, by trying out different things. This could be something like playing the piano or coding...etc. Through experimenting, you can learn about what you like and dislike, and hopefully this could be a start to help you figure things out. Being scared to start a job is completely understandable, since you mentioned that you don't want to end up with one you don't like for the rest of your life due to pressures from others. Whilst it's difficult to ignore pressures, I just want to say that if you do get a job and it doesn't work out for you, you can always change and find a potentially better one. And through this, it's also a learning experience for you since you would figure out what you like/what suits you.

It's crazy how at certain points in our life, we're expected to know what we want to do - it's just not easy to make life-changing decisions. So please take as much time as you need for you to figure things out. You're gonna be okay.

I hope that this helps somehow and that everything gets better for you

Former Member

Hi @mixmal,

Firstly welcome to the Mix, it's great to have you here!
I'm hearing that you're feeling stressed after finishing university as you're not sure what to do. That sounds really difficult. I think people always expect people to go straight into a job after finishing university and most of the time thats not the case. It can be really difficult finishing education especially when you're not sure what you want to do next. I think it's always important to remember that it's okay to take a bit of time out and think about what you want to do. Following on from the advice @kaii has given it can be good to take some time out and try and connect with yourself. Have you got any hobbies?

Keep us updated with how you're getting on, we're all here for you

sinead276

Hi @mixmal , unfortunately I don't have any magical eye-opening advice but what you have described is often the case for those who have recently graduated (myself included). I don't know what exactly I'm gonna do yet but remember that we all have time to figure it out, as it's just part of our journey in life.

Remember not to be too hard on yourself and things will figure themselves out in the end

Sending hugs,
Sinead

AislingDM

Just wanted to check in with how you've been doing lately @mixmal ? xx