Being 25 (self-reflection)

*I've been playing a hell of a load of the new Warframe update and that has kinda disrupted my usual pace of playing something new everyday.  It'll probably be a topic to discuss soon, but in the mean time here's a piece on a significant event that recently happened*

This past Saturday I turned 25 to a mix of thoughts and emotions as one may do when it comes to increasing in age.  Although I wouldn't say that 25 is a particularly old age, it’s more of the case of considering your place in the world past the world of education (as in my current experience).  At the turning of age; I could have been cynical towards getting older, moving away from the typical ‘youth’ age-group into designated adulthood; unhappy with my default living arrangements or generally apathetic towards the progress in my desired vocation, but this thankfully wasn't the case. 

The weekend was the start of the school half-term holidays and with a large group of my friends being involved in the school system, I found myself having time to myself and my immediate family.  It is in this time that I got to thinking of the progress I have made, but of a positive nature and a factor of resilience to make it work.  I've been a volunteer for a museum, part-time intern and freelance worker for commissions in the sector over the past year with minimal pay and many unanswered job applications; but as time’s gone on I've taken on each experience to try and improve myself.  One year on I’m still going at it and happier than before to try and make it in this sector of work, which to be honest I’m kinda surprised by it. 

There have been times (like with most people) where this past year has been greatly frustrating.  The biggest factor in this frustration has been the limited feedback available from my job applications; as those who have done so have been a wealth of information into my strengths and weaknesses from an alternative viewpoint.  I can understand that with some jobs having many applicants it is realistically unlikely to give that personal attention, it’s just that it can put a downer on a day. 

Overall, I’d say that I have a positive outlook on my future and I don’t feel any resentment towards the aging process.  Alongside this optimistic view, I've created a couple thoughts I would like to achieve in this upcoming year:

1.      To attain full-time employment within the culture and heritage sector, with a specific desire for the museum research at most.  To do this I want to increase my range of jobs I apply for as well as reaching out to specific organisations for advice.  I briefly did this upon finishing university, but I want to get back into doing this now with my relevant experience. 

2.      By gaining full-time employment, I want to return to having my own living arrangements either by a shared house or individual flat.  In correlation to my previous post on ‘space’ having this is important as a means of generating personal space in an environment I own. 

3.      By generating an income, I want to have the ability to travel as a means to learn more about cultures around the world.  It would allow me to give physical context to a lot of essays / journals I've read over the past 7 years. 

These points do kinda revolve around the factor of employment, but in modern society what doesn't revolve around work eh? :-P
What I would say about this experience is that my desire to be involved in a career that I enjoy greatly has been met with a sacrifice of money and social pursuits with the intention of making it worth it.  What I would recommend to those who may have a similar quandary is planning is key; to see if such an action is financially viable and for how long in comparison to the estimated time to achieve.  On top of this, give time for alternative strategies and take advice on your pursuit, considering whether it’s in your best interests.  If you can keep at it and at the end of it be in a career that you love, I wish you all the best of luck and the strength to go on and continue this desire and resilience. 

Writing this had made me happy and I hope and soon enough I can talk of my expanding prospects and in turn make this a more interesting place for my thoughts.  I’m in the process of thinking of what to write about architecturally for next week’s post (back to normal on a Monday) and I hope our see you then.