Final year worries

This year I am heading back into my studies with renewed vigour but also a few anxieties.

Ok, so you may or may not know that this is my final year of my bachelor's degree, eeek!

I am pretty happy with how things are tracking. I have got a great professional part-time job that challenges my understanding of the world every single day, I am blogging for you lovely folk and my academics are holding up somehow after four years. So I am ready to take this year on!

But gearing up for Semester 1 has made me realise that I have some hidden anxieties about the coming year that I have been failing to address, leaving to grow unbidden. So I am going to be super honest here.

1. I don't know what life after university looks like

Sure, sure, I know that things will be fine but when I think about it really carefully, some things just scare me. University takes up so much of my time and what will be left when assignments and volunteering are gone? The community I have built here in Adelaide is a safety net but it is one focused around the university because I moved interstate.

The only thought that helps with this anxiety is the fact that employment opportunities and career building programs or even further study excite me so much. I am keen to take on the world and travel to incredible parts of this planet. So while these things may not completely address my fears about post-university life, they give me something to focus on and look forward to, a fact for which I am incredibly grateful.

2. I am not confident that I will get the 'dream job'

What even is the dream job? An opportunity with a respectable company that values you as an employee, with a great salary, a positive workplace culture and career development opportunities. Sounds too good to be true. 

Worry about the expectations placed on me as the first person in my family to go to university definitely feeds this anxiety. I feel like my first job will be a make or break one. As much as people tell me the reality is we will work so many different jobs in so many different fields there is still a lot of discourse around the idea of a 'dream job' that is toxic and needs to be addressed.

3. Can I get everything done that I want to do?

Look, this is what university bucket lists are for, so my solution for this? I am going to write out everything that I want to do for this year and try to get it done by November! First on the list? Exchange! (please be merciful Covid-19).