What I wish school taught me about “the right” career path.
In a nutshell, when I think about it school taught me nothing. I bet you’re thinking “of course it taught you something”, and yes, of course it did, if Pythagorean’s theorem is anything to go by then yes I learned. But fast forward 8 years after leaving secondary school I’m faced with similar issues as discussed by some of the other lovely ladies of this blog, as in I’m 24, still learning about the basics of taxes, savings, and even how to apply for a mortgage and my financial health. So if you look at it like that, school didn’t tech me the fundamentals I needed to thrive in this ever-changing world.
So of course, all of these things are learn-able, as spoken about by Ms Independent founder, Zoe in her money blog, there are lots of resources available to help you with learning about the right way to manage money and finance, but how about life management and fundamentally, your career? Growing up in an African household if you weren’t aspiring to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer then you weren’t aspiring to be great, and I almost felt like school gave me that impression too. Careers talks were filled with information about careers in education, healthcare and the sciences, so imagine my shock horror (pardon the dramatics) when I realised there was a world out there beyond the confines of the standard day jobs?
I’ve been lucky enough that though I loved education and do consider myself a bit of a ‘nerd’, that I have a creative side that I fully embrace too - that which I’d say is probably the part I cling to most. It wasn’t until college that careers like Public Relations, Marketing and Communications even became a talking point, but stumbling into the career path of a stylist opened my eyes to way more job opportunities than I’d have imagined - did you know that job has about 6 different branches to it alone? The fashion industry isn’t only restricted to drawing and cutting (though kudos to you if you have those skills), but working in it has taught me a lot about varying industries outside the realms of the “norm”, and has given me the opportunity to learn about different cultures, people and areas I’d have never even knew existed.
So my advice to you young ladies growing up right now, and discovering your own path is to explore. Don’t think that just because your career isn’t the standard that it’s wrong, it should be a passion and something you’d want to get up and do everyday of your life. Ask question, social media stalk people in varying industries, look at your options, dive right in and try everything at least once - you never know which doors it’ll open for you
