In between years
Career choices at 17 vs career choices at 22 -
At 17, I thought a career that you choose once, will shape you forever and all I could think about was how exciting working for my own money was.
At 22, I’ve learned that it’s more of a series of guessing, detours between different paths, money worries and still not having a clue what I’m doing!
Quick question - What did you want to be at 17 - and would that version of you recognise the life your building now?
When I was 17, in the midst of covid. I started working at a pizza shop and it was pretty busy to start with as you can imagine. All I can remember during that blur of a time was how overworked I was. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because it was my first job, and well I didn’t know any better. Yeah, I guess all I cared about at that time was the money. But am I the only one to think like that?
Now at 22, it’s a completely different ball game. I left that job after 3 years, struggles with my health, moving out and no, I don’t know what my plans are. In fact, I’m not sure in the slightest of what I want to do career wise. Especially when I have to consider my health, living situation and so much more and that does worry me a lot. The thing that I’ve got to learn most right now, is that it’s absolutely okay to feel like this. ( I’m working on it, we can work on it together! )
In this day and age, there is so much pressure on not only the young ones, but everyone for that matter in the workplace. There’s not enough support in place, where there should be. In order for everyone to feel a lot more comfortable.
Mental health in the workplace:
Most mental health struggles at work don’t look dramatic. They look like staring at a screen for a little too long, rereading the same email 5 times, or feeling extremely exhausted before the day has even started. For a long time, mental health at work was treated as something you were supposed to leave at home, or keep away, like it doesn’t exist. As if stress, anxiety or burnout could clock out just because you did.
Hey everyone, I hope this message speaks out to a few of you. Just wanted to let you know that sometimes, especially at work, it can feel like a silent battle quite literally. Whether that’s stress, anxiety, trying to find that work/life balance or something else. I know how difficult it can be, I’ve been in that position myself. I hope that in the future we can get the support we need. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me, I really do appreciate it! :)
Quote - If it makes you happy, it doesn’t have to make sense to others.