A college graduate of dentistry is working full time as a police officer.
A friend who finished communication engineering ended up teaching in college, while a licensed civil engineer is working with the fire department.
What is your current employment status? Are you working a job according to your chosen career in college or university?
Most people want to become successful and live a life according to their own plan.
What’s the plan?
In life we have paths to travel so that we can get to our desired destination and that is success of course. However as we go to that direction, we encounter several things and most of them are challenges. As we begin with our journey we have our plan, a guide or a map.
When we were kids, we were asked by our parents or teachers of what we would become when we grow up. Some would say a doctor, an engineer, a teacher while some kids’ answers are quite weird.
College life is where a student will choose what he/she wants to be after graduation. However, most college graduates find it hard to apply for a job after finishing schooling. Thousands of them are jobless for the first one to two years after studying.
This is where most college graduates will tend to accept a job offer even if it does not fit their field of specialization. I am a living proof of that.
I was fortunate enough to study in one of the largest government university in Bicol. I wasn’t told by my parents as to what profession I should choose to finish. I also didn’t change course when I finally realized that I was going to teach after graduation. Some of my classmates switched courses because they don’t like to teach as if they hated the teaching profession.
So while I was studying education I already set a plan for myself. I even visualize becoming a full pledge professor in the next ten years. However after finishing college it appears that I was going to a path which was not according to my plan.
I was lucky enough to have my first job two months after graduation but it was just a contractual one. After six months I was jobless for the next two years.
Some of my former classmates in college seem to be going the right path according to their plan. I heard some of them are teaching in their local area and are now full time public teachers. Some pursue masters’ degree and even doctorate degree.
For some of us who seemed derailed with the path to what was planned, we might think that the course we have had in college was unimportant. Just like why do I have to study physics when in the end I will not be a Physicist? Why do we have to learn the anatomy of a frog when we have to work as an accountant after graduation?
We might consider these things of less important during the process of learning, but are they really unimportant?
“No facet of your existence is totally trivial.”
– Gerald Gardner
The phrase was adopted from the teachings I learned with the so-called “Old religion”. It means that all things happening in our life are important even the worst stupidities of your life.
When I was young and aggressive, I found myself reading a book about the old religion. They have principles in life that are just simple and they only have one law.
“An it harm none do what thou wilt.”
It means that you can do whatever you want as long as you do not harm anyone including yourself. Sounds like the golden rule doesn’t it? “Do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you.”
Change your plan
So, sometimes when we encounter failures and troubles, we may think it is not important. No, we are wrong. Failures are important in order for us to achieve success. Heart aches and miseries are important in order for us to become a better version of our self.
If your job right now is the same as mine, which is far from your chosen career back in college, you may have to change your plan. There is always an option. A plan B, plan C and so on. Things happen for a reason as we most know it.
Right now I am working as an analyst but I finished industrial education. However my plan for success is still ongoing. It’s just that I have to re-route my path in different field that leads to my real purpose in life.
There is always a second chance but a second chance is hard to come by so make sure to grab it when it comes.
