Four. More. Classes.
Ensue panic here. I don't actually have a plan for post-graduation. I don't have any job prospects in mind. I haven't looked into advancing myself to what my degree would qualify for. I haven't even done a single job search with "management" as its title.And I'll let you in on a secret: I don't want to.
In fact, I've done a few recent job searches, for "fun jobs", like dog-walking, dog-sitting, pretty much anything with dogs. Some weekend work, like sitting in a call-centre. Just something "mindless" and fun to pay the bills on the side of my part-time administrative job, but that has nothing to do with me getting a degree.
But people expect, if you get a degree, you want the job.
I used to scoff at people who "wasted" their time getting a University degree, and then promptly worked at [insert fast food chain here]. That was before I was a University student and had the revelation of "why rush?". It's not that I never want to put my degree to use, it's just that I'd rather enjoy life before spending my life reading textbooks slowly transforms into working long shifts and having to do damage control on the sidelines. Plus, I'm not really qualified to be a manager just yet. I'm actually quite under-experienced and think I'd prefer the good old-fashioned method of working my way up the ladder, getting a couple of mentors, and specializing my skills. I really, really, love fund-raising for not-for-profits - a small component of my current job description. Yet, I don't have many projects I can put my name on for the fund-development committee. I'd like to work on that. I'd also like to work on managing a group of volunteers, a committee, a small group, before going in with the big fish.
Life is too short to define yourself by your job.
I'd love to soak in my marriage, perhaps plan our future - with or without kids - and enjoy the fact that I educated myself, gave myself a great experience, and now have the paper qualifications to pursue a lot of the areas I am drawn to.
Yet, naysayers will continue to pressure me.
This is the part I dread. The part where family gatherings turn into berating me with questions about my career path. Did you apply for this recent posting? Did you ask your boss for a promotion? What are you doing differently at work now? Is there a lot of opportunity out there? When are you going to leave your current job? When will you start working full time?
They're going to happen. Those questions, and ones I haven't even planned for, will now become a part of my conversations in passing. I'll be dodging questions, avoiding confused stares, ignoring the echoes of everyone's collective thought, "what's wrong with her?".
Nothing is wrong with me.
Education does not always mean bigger and better things. Sometimes by circumstance, sometimes by choice. Whatever the reason, it's not something that can be explained to those standing on the outside looking in. The people who made it big right away with their degree, or wish they had a similar degree - or, perhaps, they are trying to proove to themselves why they never went for that degree, and how truly "useless" it really is. Those people will never understand your choices with your own education, because they are not you.
I'm not saying I will let my degree go to waste. Education is never a waste. Maybe someday I'll be a mother, and need to use the negotiation tactics I learned in Organizational Management: Managing Negotiations, or maybe my Introductory Accounting course will better help me budget for my savings. Or maybe I will move onto a management position one day, and use my degree to advance myself in the workforce. There's so many skills out there, why limit myself to just a "job" for the sake of it?
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