College teacher and cat lover, Rachel Carr has quarter-life issues to address. Are we going anywhere? Now I hadn’t ready any of the Prospects weblogs for quite some time so last week I decided to catch up on how Sarah was doing post-nuclear, and how Rachel was finding life after her stint at the top. Even though last I heard Sarah hadn’t been offered her perfect job, I was so impressed with the whole sacking-your-entire-life-cos-it-didn’t-make-you-happy vibe that I had a flurry of break-free daydreams, and my resolution not to seek virtual realities on the internet went down the drain.
I always feel embarrassed reading back through my own blogs but I decided to do it anyway and I was rather distressed with what I read: My blogs revolve around two main subjects – 1. I’m happy but not really. 2. My cats are getting on fine, although are quite possibly in the throws of an identity crisis due to my indecisiveness over names (Charlotte and Pebbles at the time of writing). Routine frustrationAs if I don’t find life depressing enough, to read back and realise that I have become completely stagnant, with no realistic big life moves on the horizon dampened my spirits even more (actually, it did more than dampened my spirits – it caused me to drown my sorrows in my pitiful spirits collection, but I suppose that’s a whole other story). Since then, I’ve been waking up every morning with the desire, not so much to yawn, but to let out an almighty roar of frustration: Every day I go into work and I’m carried along through little highs and little lows, on a sea of diet coca-cola. And every evening I get back home and either do extra work, or go to my sister’s house and help with the kids, or watch TV, or see a friend, or do my evening class. And every night I go to bed and fall asleep with a little help from those nice chaps from Nytol. My life, I realise in more rational moments, is OK. In fact, on the grand global scheme of things it’s more than OK, it’s pretty damn good. So why is it that I feel the need to exercise my vocal chords to vent my frustration (just for the record, I do refrain from actually roaring)? Why is it that I feel this frustration at all? Shouldn’t I be happy with what I have? Am I alone in feeling like I’m trapped in a post-adolescent, pre-middle-aged wilderness? Am I just a moaning, ungrateful crazy-cat woman? Well, in an effort to vary the theme of my blogs from me, me, me to we, we, we, I decided to do a survey of my friends to see how alone I am in the inexplicable dissatisfaction stakes. Question timeI asked the following questions to about 15 friends: 1. What is your job title? 2. How happy are you in your current job? Answer with very happy…happy…not very happy…very unhappy 3. Are you in the field of work you intend to stay in? Answer with yes…not sure… no 4. Do you feel you are progressing well in your career? Yes… no 5. Do you feel optimistic about your future career options? Yes… no 6. Do you have any regrets about your career choices so far? If so, what are they? 7. What are they best things about your job? (eg the salary, the variety of work, fulfilling, interesting, challenging…) 8. What are they worst things about your job? (eg the salary, it’s boring, it’s meaningless, it’s too challenging, long hours…) Twenty-four hours after I sent the e-mail I have received an awkward eleven replies and since maths was never my strong point, the facts and figures I’m about to present to you are likely to be somewhat inaccurate. The answersThere was a wide variety of career-areas covered, from a stay-at-home mum to educationalists to media-types and a couple of budding members of the professions (law and accountancy). Out of those who responded, an impressive 47% were happy in their jobs, while 53% were either very happy or very very happy. This optimistic start to the survey continued with 66% of respondents claiming that they were in the field that they intended to remain in, while 22% were unsure and 22% knew that at some point they would like to change fields. With such a high percentage of respondents feeling they were already working in their chosen field, it came as no surprise that 75% felt that they were progressing well in their career, with just 25% feeling that they were not progressing as quickly as they would like. Furthermore, a whopping 91% feel optimistic about their future, with 9% (or one person in real terms) feeling optimistic-ish on some days. Only 33% of respondents had regrets about their career choices, citing the following regrets: wished they had entered their chosen field sooner, wished they had become a radio DJ, wished that their previous occupation had been secure and financially rewarding enough so they didn’t have to become an accountant instead. There was a common theme with regards to job satisfaction – the respondents who seemed to be the most fulfilled were those who worked with other people, either in an educational setting or in the media. Other common enjoyment-factors were working with nice colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere and a high salary or high potential salary. Conversely, a large proportion of respondents cited a low salary as the worst aspects of their jobs, with long hours, repetition and lack of challenge also being prominent causes of dissatisfaction. A valuable lessonSo what has this highly inaccurate, unrepresentative survey taught me then? Well, basically, that my worst fears have in fact been realised: I am a lone, crazy-cat woman stranded in a post-adolescent, pre-middle-aged wilderness. Fantastic. But it has also taught me that maybe I over-analyse and worry about my life too much. For example, although I know logically that I have a bright future I would have responded that I was not optimistic about future career options, purely because there isn’t a job I’m looking to apply for right now. I would also have said that I wasn’t progressing well for the same reason – I don’t have a specific job title that I’m aiming for, therefore I feel like I’m treading water. But I think the survey has taught me a more valuable lesson: If I’m not totally satisfied in my job I need to do something about it. I enjoy teaching far too much to go nuclear but I need to add an extra dimension to my life, just so that I feel like I’m not standing still. In a rare pro-active moment, I re-researched the possibility of doing a photography course and I’ve found out that there should be one I can start in January. I’m also going to apply to write book reviews for a magazine which, if I get accepted, will have the benefit of free books, and maybe will make me feel like there’s more to my life than just my job. Hang on a second, I’m writing about myself again ... I thought this blog was supposed to have more of a ‘we’ focus. Well, in the words of a newly independent career-on-the-up woman, Oops, I did it again. See Laura's earlier writings Prospects Graduate magazine is aiming to expand the team of bloggers. If you would like to address the world on a fortnightly basis, please get in touch. | 
