[CHAT] Life After School
School can seem like the longest time of your life, especially when you’re still in it. The Monday-to-Friay 9am to 3:30 pm routine can seem like it could continue forever, and homework, responsibilities and social drama can push the prospect of graduating into the dim corners of your mind.
If you were anything like me, by the time you in year 12, you were absolutely raring to graduate. The minute my last exam ended and the invigilator called out ‘pens down!’ I was like:
HELLO INDEPENDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!
But once you graduate highschool, suddenly a million options open up in front of you. Do you go straight into higher education? If so, is it university? TAFE? And which one do you choose? Do you take a gap year? Find work? Fall on the floor crying because you’re having a quarter-life crisis??
The uncertainty may not stop there. You could be one of the lucky people who immediately finds their true calling - or you could be lucky and be one of those people that is totally OK with not knowing! Or you could have an existential crisis in the middle of studying/working/gap-year-ing (that’s a word now) because you aren’t sure about what you’re doing.
And of course, the post-highschool experience could not be complete without – dun dun DUN –Sudden Responsibilities!! You now have to actually care about your own education! Pay your own bills and buy your own groceries! Have a car of your own and look after it! Maybe you have even started a family! You are now a Fully Functioning Adult apparently, even though a few months ago you stress-ate a tub of ice-cream and went to bed at 3 am.
WOW - that really made everything sound really stressful, this is the best time of our lives right?
The gopod news is that with some confidence, positive self-talk, the right support, good people around you and spinkling of luck it really will be a great time. Will be talking about all this and more on Monday the 8th of December at 8pm right here!!!!
Join us if you’re looking for answers, advice or maybe even just a place to rant, as we grapple with Life After School
Hey @FItzChivalry !! I had so many papers as well, I had to set aside an entire day to find them and then burn them lolol
Hi @dreamcatcher , and welcome back!! Going to Fiji (and Sydney) sounds like a pretty fun way of celebrating the end of school
Hey guys! Jeeeeze it's been a while since I've been on the forums, but I'm back now 😛
Hope you are all super excellent tonight!
What did you do with yourself first after you finished school? Or if you’re not quite finished yet, what’s the first thing you want to do once you’re finished?
By the time I had finished school I had recieved my Early Entry into uni, so I defered my offer (hello gap year!) and worked. Part of me regrets not doing the whole holiday thing.... but I did get a cat, so that kinda makes up for it, right? I also got into sewing and heaps of artsy stuff. OH, I did go to Fiji and had a rad little stay in Sydney right after my exams. I don't know, man.... I just remember getting a cat.
Hey @dreamcatcher ! Sounds like you had an awesome time during your gap year 
@Chessca_H well I remember walking out of my French exam (which was my last one) and heading to lunch with my friends, which was when I had my first alcoholic drink!! Apparently I escalated pretty fast after exams 😛
Hi @Myvo !! And yeah it is really weird going from studying so much to having no school responsibilities. I had no idea what to do with myself for a while
@Chessca_H I burnt my notes instead of my textbooks (so that I could sell them :P), but I know how you feel!! Watching them burn was soo satisfying
Hi all!! Welcome to tonight's chat on Life After School. It's a super appropriate time for this, considering that highschool and uni exams have all officially finished, and tonight we'll be discussing all of the many choices you can take after finishing school, and how you may or may not have an idea of what you want to do (which is perfectly fine either way!!)
Tonight's chat will be moderated by the amazing @Chessca_H , @Sophie-RO and myself (of course), and before we dive right in have a look at our community guidelines and follow them, just so we can keep this space as safe and accessible as possible!! If at any time you feel like things are getting a bit intense, feel free to check out emergency help.
Okay, let's do this!!
1. First things first, what did you do with yourself first after you finished school? Or if you’re not quite finished yet, what’s the first thing you want to do once you’re finished?
Hey everyone!
1. First things first, what did you do with yourself first after you finished school? Or if you’re not quite finished yet, what’s the first thing you want to do once you’re finished?
I threw away all of my study notes (both from paper and from my laptop), felt a bit lost because it was weird having some freedom after many years, and caught up on sleep 
Hey everyone, welcome to tonights sesh!
First things first, what did you do with yourself first after you finished school? Or if you’re not quite finished yet, what’s the first thing you want to do once you’re finished?
One of the first things I did when I finished school was have a book burning party with a bunch of friends in my back garden. Seeing that math textbook turn to ash was sooooooo satisfying
What about you @safari93 , what was the first thing you did when you finished?
Definitely agree the first thing I did was throw all those damn notes in the bin! Ended up finding stragglers for weeks after though, so many papers!!
@dreamcatcher your gap year sounds amazing, especially the getting a cat bit!
hahahaha I think it's really funny how many of us destroyed school related stuff when we finished 😛
I am so jealous of people that took gap years and had awesome travel related adventures!
It sounds like a lot of us celebrated the end of year 12 pretty well! time for the next question:
Some of us are lucky enough to find our true calling straight out of high school, others… Not so much. Were you one of those lucky people, or are you still figuring it out?
@chandelier Totally agree!! It's such an adventure discovering who you are and what you want do with your life.
@chandelier thats such a good point, why do we need to centre success on know what we want to do career wise?
Some of us are lucky enough to find our true calling straight out of high school, others… Not so much. Were you one of those lucky people, or are you still figuring it out?
WELL, yeah ~ I wasn't one of the lucky ones. I started off with an Exercise Science degree before switching to Arts (Psychology). I think that many people don't realise how much pressure there is to choose a path which stays with you for life.
Some of us are lucky enough to find our true calling straight out of high school, others… Not so much. Were you one of those lucky people, or are you still figuring it out?
Well basically i left school early because I got an electrical apprenticeship so in a way, I did find out what I wanted to do, but now I'm still sort of figuring it out.
Some of us are lucky enough to find our true calling straight out of high school, others… Not so much. Were you one of those lucky people, or are you still figuring it out?
I thought I did, I went straight out of high school into an Arts degree thinking I would pursue my French, but then decided uni life wasn't for me so I dropped out. It took a year and a half of soul searching and I eventually worked out what I wanted to do with myself. Now I'm back at a different uni studying science and I'm so glad for it 😄
