Live GR: All About Adulting, 7th of October, 7:30pm AEST

[featuringme]

What's something you wish they taught you about 'adult life' in school? Is there something you wished people would talk more about when it comes to being an 'adult'?

I wish school taught us more about the difficulties of finding jobs! I remember my high school had a person come over and they taught us effective interviewing techniques - basically the skills needed during an interview. It was handy, although I feel like the person could've touched on how to gain experience for the job you want. It's very difficult to gain many jobs since they require that you have experience, however you can only gain experience at work or through volunteering. This was something I discovered on my own, and I really wish I learnt this sooner because I definitely would've volunteered during high school to get that experience.

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

same @featuringme I wish I'd done volunteer work earlier

[WheresMySquishy]

I also regret not volunteering in high school @featuringme.

@ecla34  I agree that it's often best to sort things out the earlier the better. One of the things I have learned is that things can take a while to get approved (for example financial supports, supports for people with disabilities, healthcare or aged care). With my grandma, my family waited so long to enter her into the aged care system and she ended up not even using home care at all by the time it was finally approved despite her being marked as high priority. I know people who have been on waiting lists for even longer.

[featuringme]

@WheresMySquishy yeah, I wish there was more emphasis put on these issues, and maybe just a little bit less on things like studying Shakespeare  I especially agree with the Centrelink system, I never heard about it during school, and it's a challenge to work with.

And I'm sorry you had to go through that. The medical system should be a lot more catering to the needs of the population, and doctors should not be dismissive of their patients at all 

[WheresMySquishy]

Lucky last question!

Were your expectations about becoming a 'grown up' accurate?

[ecla34]

Were your expectations about becoming a 'grown up' accurate?

Nup! no one knows what they're doing and that's okay  

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

I think I was much more optimistic about growing up when I was a kid haha, then sort of scared, and then now it's like oh it's not such a big thing, it's just a lot of extra stress. I guess so far growing up has been pretty slow for me but for others I can imagine it could be a bit of a shock to the system. I've still got a long way to go, I'm by no means an 'adult' so I should prepare myself for those responsibilities to slap me in the face

[WheresMySquishy]

Were your expectations about becoming a 'grown up' accurate?
I don't think so. I didn't expect to become so involved in caring for my family members and that I would have to find a lot of supports myself. My parents didn't think ahead and plan certain things in advance, especially with my grandma. I also thought that I would have a master's degree by now. I didn't know that a few years of experience is usually required before doing a master's degree in my field. I also didn't realise that there were other alternatives to going to university, or that studying could be flexible.
Another thing I didn't have much awareness of is my own city. I didn't have a sense of direction at all when I was in high school. People would tell me about neighbouring suburbs and I would say, 'Where's that?'. I didn't realise our city was so big.

[WheresMySquishy]

@ecla34  Hahaha I love that!

I wish there was a manual for carers, like a 'Caring for Dummies' or 'Caring 101' like there are for new parents. It could have things like communication skills, manual handling techniques, where to access supports, etc. I've trialled a course for carers and given feedback on it so hopefully more things like this will be available in the future.

[Lost_Space_Explorer5]

Hahaha my sense of direction still SUCKS @WheresMySquishy