Life after University

Way back when I graduated, I was so happy to be done with studying. I was done learning, and I was now ready for the big scary world outside the comfortable moss-covered granite walls of my campus.

At no point would I ever need to drink copious amounts of coffee to cram, only to crash five minutes before I needed to leave for the exam. No longer would I smell the dusty mustiness of a 100-year old library book that many students before me had fallen asleep on.

WRONG!

I’ve never done more studying than I have after uni. Yes, I was a mediocre student and I probably would’ve done a lot more studying had I been smart, but that’s not the point. My point is that only when your studies finish, does your studying begin.

In the last week, I’ve been feeling increasingly guilty about not studying. I have an exam booked a month from now and yet again I’ve not done anything about it. I know the theory behind it, but this exam is all about applying the skills, and I’m struggling with it, and I’m afraid of it. Because with work, gym, social life and generally trying to stay alive, it’s really difficult to try and find time to study.

But it’s important. You can’t stay stagnant, and you can’t just stay in the same place where you stumbled into after graduation. Your career doesn’t wait, the world doesn’t wait. Everything is constantly changing; whether it’s laws, rules, regulations, general practices, consumer habits or even technology, there’s a constant fluidity. If you stop trying to improve yourself, you will fall behind.

Knowledge is power they say, and they might very well be right. Whether it’s learning on the job or cramming theory from books, you’ll be doing it for the rest of your life, so you better start enjoying it.Did I have a point? Maybe at some point.

How do you view learning? Fun? Enjoyable? An unavoidable pain in the ass?