Help, I’m an indecisive, soon-to-be graduate!

Last week I had my first wave of panic about my future after I graduate next year. I knew this would happen (probably quite often) in my third year but I still wasn’t prepared. I ended up with about a thousand tabs open (slight exaggeration there. Is it even possible to have a thousand tabs open at once?!), looking at routes into possible careers. I thought I had my whole plan mapped out but I started having a crisis about whether or not I would regret my career choice and wish I’d gone down another route later in life when it’s too late to do anything about it. Since before I even came to uni I was undecided about whether or not I wanted to be a journalist or a forensic psychologist when I ‘grew up’ and, almost three years later, I’m still stuck on this decision (except now I have the added decision of do I take a year out and go travelling before I have too many responsibilities?). Arghh. I thought uni would help me figure it out. I thought that just by being in uni I’d automatically realise my calling in life, but it turns out life doesn’t work that way. Funny that.

I’ve decided that I need to do something about it (mainly to stop myself having a complete meltdown), and I needed to do something soon so that the end of my university life doesn’t just look like a black hole of unemployment and mindless daytime TV. I’m thinking that I need to pay my first visit to the careers service (yes, it’ll be my first visit in 2 ½ years, don’t judge me). I’ve spent hours trawling through the internet thinking that I could get all the advice about what to do after graduation there, but it turns out there’s just too much contradictory evidence that it actually makes me panic more! This is why I believe that the careers service will be absolutely vital in helping me to plan my next step. Obviously they can’t tell me what I should do (unfortunately. Is there anywhere I can hire someone to make all of my decisions for me/cure me of my indecisiveness?), but they can help me to weigh up all my options and then help me to start working towards my goals.

Anyway! I think what I’m trying to say in this post is: fellow final years who can feel a crisis coming on (or are in the middle of one), my advice to you is to just stop and breathe, and then make an appointment with the careers service. After you’ve made the appointment, write down all career paths you’d like to possibly go down, the pros and cons of each, and what you’ve already done to help you get a head start. That way you can go armed with some knowledge and not end up just being like ‘omg help me to plan my life’.  As for me, I think I’m going to follow my own advice in the hope that things will seem a little clearer when they’re on paper instead of racing around in my head.

Looking on the bright side though, if I, and many others, are trying to decide between lots of possible career paths after we graduate then that means we’re still at an age where we can do whatever we want to do. Although it seems like a major crisis now, we’re at a wonderful, exciting place in our lives. Every cloud, ey?