I have this friend who is really considering just throwing away his well paying job that comes complete with benefits, a swanky desk, and all the water he could possibly drink in a day to start back to school full time in the fall and finish his degree instead of earning it part time at night.
He will be poorer, eating little more than salad, canned ravioli, and ramen noodles while also cutting back on his entertainment fund. He will be busier than ever with classes and probably working at night in a warehouse to make ends meet. This is a positive of sorts. It will provide him with a paycheck and health benefits as well as a decent, consistent workout. They way he has this all planned out now it will last just over a year at which time he will finally have his prized possession, a sheet of paper stating he's a Bachelor of something.
A little birdy flew by his window the other day and started chatting with him. He's always been a lover of travel and with his proposed new direction he could take off whenever he'd like to far away lands and new adventures. This picqued his interest greatly. He then went to some random back water website he rambles on daily and read the quote at the far bottom right of the screen. He reads it everyday but on this day it spoke to him. On this day he decided that now was the time to catch the wind. To experience everything this planet has to offer to him while he is still young and stupid enough to use ignorance as an excuse. On this day he decided that yes he will walk away from his comfy chair on the 6th floor of his building which he leaves every night to go to class so that he may pursue that expensive piece of paper he so desperately needs for validation of his actions over the last 4 years.
Certainly there will be hardship ahead but then he's never done anything the easy way. The decision is now made. Freedom comes along when the calendar is turned to the third week of August in 2006. The future is just 13 months ahead of that.
16 comments:
as somone who likewise is throwing away his job to go back to school to get a little piece of paper - i can only assume that the free water and the swanky desk are simply boring the living crap out of him.
And I'm selling my car because I'm indefinately leaving the country. Know anyone who'd want to buy it?
well i have 3 degrees and probably can't even afford to buy jacek's car!
but....it's the process and the ends that makes it all worth it.
i applaud your friend for making this difficult decision.
but....is the water bottled?
Does your friend have a question? :P
well, as one who has done the same thing....i quit my job, but it wasn't a good paying one (it was one i had to get after being laid off), and decided to pursue my piece of paper saying i can draw (or in my case take photographs). it IS hard, but it's not so bad. i freak about some days about what kind of job i will get when i'm finished school, but it's something i need to do. i'll be in debt even when i'm six feet under, but i will have that piece of paper my god! and i actually am much happier. funny---i'm broker than a shattered mirror, but i'm actually happy, i think for the first time in my life, really truly happy.
but i think my decision is a mid-life thing. i am debating the peace corps afterward......
hmmmm a friend?
I think it's a little scary, yes, but completely wonderful. Traveling and experiencing life and other cultures is worth being poor, and with regard to both the travel and quitting the job/getting degree - at least he won't wake up when he's 50 and wish he had taken the chance when he was younger.
Well, whoever your "friend" may be, I applaud his decision. The corporate rat-race can wait - life's out there for living, not for dreaming of what might have been.
I did the whole work-and-study thing and ended up graduatimg when I was 40. I haven't often been proud of myself, but I was then. Good luck. Errmm, to your friend, I mean.
I have been wanting to go back to school for years...but I can't quit my job-the life I have depends on my income...which truly sucks a big ass.
I wish your "friend" lots of success and I remember eating and living on ramen noodles when I was in school-it wasn't that bad.
You know, I always thought people who said that a degree was just a peice of paper were just full of sour grapes. The things you learn-- when you're there to learn, that is-- are priceless.
I think this is the best decision. Life behind a desk can wait. I went to college right out of high school, I have the desk job and I am bored as hell. I would love to go back and get my masters, I just don't have the balls at the moment to do so. I wish your friend the best of luck in finding happiness, where ever it may be found.
i've done something like that, but it was forced kinda...a layoff. but it was kind of a blessing actually since i was really bored with working in communications/pr type of stuff.
now i'm working in IT which has got me interested, plus i can be myself.
in pr i had to be a politician of sorts. i fucking hated that part.
Oh dear god let him do it now while he has the chance. I can't tell you how many times I've looked back overy my own life and wondered how very different things would be if I had sacrificed more to continue with my own education. The sacrifice would have been my own and no others would have felt the pinch. But now with wee ones to care for and be responsible for...it will have to wait a bit longer.
Life is all about making sacrifices and the best ones are for long term benefits. You cant have it all right now, just enjoy where you are right now. Best of luck to him.
Is it really a friend?
I know that your buddy will do just fine.. hes got a ton of grit and will breeze through 13 months of sacrificing... cheers to your homie.
Much applause... great story, and really great honesty.
The money is a prison.
So you get a raise and buy a better car. So you get a bigger desk and command more snivelling subordinates.
The power is a prison.
The biggest winners are the ones who lost the most. At least your friend now has clarity in his life and won't be a drone in a traffic jame waiting for those two weeks a year where he can actually be himself.
J
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