Time.
- zo
- May 13, 2020
- 3 min read
This time last year I was almost five months into my first full-time job. I was a Digital and Marketing Coordinator for a new Marketing Agency in Melbourne. I had just gotten used to the work hours, the travel time (1.5 hours to spend on public transport twice a day is a long ass time), and had finally figured out what the hell I was doing.
Finishing that up in December, I had worked hard, gained experience I will be forever grateful for, built valuable working relationships (even made it to 100 connections on LinkedIn!), saved money and finally got to see my friends more than once a week (I hadn’t quite managed the work-life balance thing yet).
Today? I am sitting in my newly made ‘office’ which is really just our spare bedroom, with no job, writing blog articles, completing Uni assignments and trying to figure out what on earth to do next. Plus, I still can’t see my friends and all that money I worked so hard to save for is quite quickly slipping away. (I should have listened to my parents when they said a car is a depreciating liability.)
But what I struggle with most is the future ahead of me. When I finished my contract, I was so confident. I had everything mapped out. I was going to take a break (something I hadn’t done in over two years), go on a holiday and just relax for a bit. Then come January, I was going to look for another part-time industry job before Uni started back. I was so confident. I had all this new experience and knowledge and because I wasn’t a graduate yet, I was cheaper than other candidates – I was the whole package!
But then COVID-19 happened, and all those jobs disappeared.
I went from applying for multiple jobs a day with 3 being posted every hour, to now looking at the same five jobs that have been there since this all started.
Now don’t get me wrong, I will be forever grateful that I live at home during this pandemic, with a supportive family and great friends. However, the pressure of getting a job still hasn’t gone away.
Finding to find a job is mentally exhausting and that is at the best of times. Trying to find one during a global pandemic? Good luck.
The reality is, I may very well go 8 months without a job. A week ago I would have said this is a horrible scenario, that all that hard work and sacrifice that I made last year would be for nothing if I spent that long out of the industry. But today is a new week and let’s be real, that is not a fun attitude to have. So instead, I have tried to look at what I do have.
Time.
Time can be daunting, especially at a time like this where we are cooped up inside, not knowing when we can go out again. But this time can also be an opportunity for so much more.
It's time that people like myself and other Uni students can relax. We can take a step away from finding what we want to do with our life, forgetting about climbing the career ladder and just relax.
The best part of this time is that I have been able to go back to things I enjoyed as a kid. I am doing puzzles and painting and reading. Things I didn’t have time for before. I have finally started my own blog, something I have wanted to do forever. Plus, I get to catch up on all the TV shows I didn’t have time to watch last year.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am still freaking out about what is ahead of me. I still wake up and feel disappointed that I haven’t achieved what I wanted by now. But I am also trying to remember what is right in front of me too, and to remember that we are going through a global pandemic. There is no right or wrong way to do this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience; some people may not even ever experience this. So, whatever you are doing, whatever you are feeling, it’s okay.
You have time.
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