Out of the comfort zone
It has been a while since my last post. My only excuse is that I had not actually been job-hunting. See, I had been spending time in a safe place. That place is called academia.
For the past three months all I could think of was studying for exams. Once those were done I entered the wonderful world of dissertations and decided I had reached a point of no return until August 28th (the official deadline). By that I mean that there was room for very little in my life but books and media theories. My long-term vision was temporarily blurred and the next exam was the next big life project. The same applied to dissertation plans, symposiums and drafts.
In a strange way I have to admit that it was a very comfortable bubble to live in. Sure, there’s pressure, but in the end all you do as a masters student is read and think about things you’re interested in – then write about it. I loved that.
Bubbles burst though, and my LSE postgrad is almost over, which brings me to my current situation: a place where things are undecided, ambiguous, and not in any order whatsoever. I am still not sure of which country I will live in, nor do I have a job, and I find myself without a back up plan. Oops.
The only thing I am sure of at the moment is that I still have to write 10,000 words on Starbucks and the corporatization of cosmopolitanism.
All of this made me think I am in the most uncomfortable place I have ever been in my life. I get worried looks from my employed friends, and my mother avoids the topic altogether at the moment. The Guardian jobs alert email stares at me every morning and my heart jumps every time I hear of a potential employer. On the upside: I am not the only one in this place, and having friends who understand what you’re experiencing makes all the difference.
In the end, it may be the most awkward and uncomfortable place, but still it’s the most exciting one. I don’t think the chance to re-invent oneself comes along very often, and if anything, this is it.