After leaving university, my precarious existence has made me question whether a stronger mindset could have carved a stronger path. Thoughts about job security, money, housing, relationships and more have come flooding into mind for someone who only thought about learning. Now, perhaps like others, I find myself as a lone fish wandering the seabed. Learning can no longer be the sole focus. The need for survival and building a future turns a period of curious abstraction and rationalisation futile. The market comes with a price and demands its character and practice. After years stuck in the academic hole as a naïve youngster, the leap into the competitive economy been a difficult and awkward one. Graduation soon brings with it a stretch of adulthood, entering spiralling questions about one’s role, purpose and prospects. If you are like me, still wandering this lush planet, life looks all but ominous amidst continuous job applications and anxiety over what the future holds for you. Estimates suggest more than 2.3 million graduates are searching for a job while only around 30,000 graduate job vacancies are advertised per month. University is life-changing, it can be the proudest feeling for not just students but also their family. However, despite the many successes’ university can bring, my time after graduation was a descent into the abyss. I suddenly felt lonely and worthless. The paradox being a university degree never felt so worthless. While I do not regret the enlightening experiencing of going to university, the purpose of this article is to remind students there is great value in thinking practically about their future. Gaining knowledge and intelligence is great but it is not the same thing as experience and wisdom; a degree is not everything, work is not everything.
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