I've gone from being a napping, biscuit-munching student, to a 9-5 office girl designing full-time and sitting on the sofa every evening looking like a zombie...
...and I have a bone to pick:
8 Things Nobody Told Me About 'THE REAL WORLD'*
- There are no naps in the real world.
- You will feel tired at the end of the day, despite having been sat down for 8 hours.
- In the real world, everyone emails each other. I know they're sitting a mere 3 feet away. Don't question it. It just IS.
- Prepare to be taxed. 23% of your wages will disappear before you can even touch them. Twenty threeeee percent. Think about it.
- Going to the bank is nigh on impossible. It's Saturday mornings or never.
- You've got 12 months to crawl out of that overdraft.
- Petrol is very expensive.
- If you want to make boring phonecalls then you will have the pleasure of squishing them into your 30 minute lunchbreak. A mouthful of sandwich, chatting to the HMRC, booking your cat into the vet, calling your Dad to check he's still alive etc etc.
- I graduated from university with a high 2:1 (2 more marks and it would've been a first. Gah.)
- I passed my driving test
- I bought my first car
- I left my part-time job of 4 years at Lush
- I got my first "proper" full-time job
- My cat had 4 kittens
- I went to Paris for 24 hours
- I slept in a fire engine for 3 nights
- I had my first big proper scary terrible disaster everything-goes-wrong illustration job
- I got a few more freelance jobs that went fine
- I became KNACKERED
- I also became skint
I'm going to try and post more regularly, zombie-like-state permitting.
My top piece of advice to take away from this would be:
University is a cushy walk in the park. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Any things to add? What shocked you about leaving the university bubble and joining the 9-5 gang? Were you exhausted too?
I felt a bit lost/abandonded after uni, though my tutors never really cared about me anyway...I volunteered at a charity shop for a few months, had two retail jobs and now have a warehouse job (I don't have to deal with the general public!yey)...never given up on illustration though!!!hyah!!!! *Sorry I drank a whole bottle of wine :p
ReplyDelete#6 I can help with that. Now get to work!
ReplyDeleteP.S. More info on the fire engine required.
Things to add - that your student overdraft will have charges once you are no longer a student. That holidays are a lovely luxury but weirdly you will find you miss the work routine when you are away & that time away where you could have naps don't work because your brain has taught you that naps are for students & children under 5!
ReplyDeleteGlad that your illustration life is going well darling. x
People are different, or interactions with them are! I mix with people at work of all different types and ages and get on well. But then again, I feel a bit exasperated at not knowing how to meet people my own age.
ReplyDeleteI have less lie-ins on weekends because I want to make the most of my precious time!
And I'm also tired at the end of the day, but for me it's 8 hours on my feet at work! :p
Aw, poor lamb - what I wouldn't give to have a cushy 9-5 number ;) no I'm kidding it is hard work I know, especially that transition from Uni. I was pretty lucky as I went from Uni to job at Uni (which is similar to being at Uni but you have a desk that you should be at when you're napping).
ReplyDeleteJust be glad you're getting a full nights sleep and you can go to the loo on your own without a baby shouting at you. On the plus side I can watch back to back romcoms (probably not a plus) and have naps :).
Good luck with it hun- you'll get in the swing of things soon xx
Now you understand why they make signs that say "Don't grow up. It's a trick!". Yep, we all rush and hurry to be "adults" and then we think we are adults once we are 18, 20, 21.... then we find out later that we were really only "pre-adults" and soon discover that being an actual adult is a lot more boring and tiring than anyone ever told us. But, the independence and self-efficacy of our adultness is pretty cool. And, even as adults, we never stop exploring who exactly we are or want to become. Enjoy the journey! ~Gena
ReplyDeleteI can definitely agree with the sitting down all day and still be tired, especially if its in front of a boring computer and a desk.Great art, i love the humour in your illustrations.
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