Recently I’ve made the conscious decision to write about topics that are close to my heart, or on mind. As it’s so easy to get caught up in this world where consumerism is the main drive and topics which need to be discussed get ignored. One of these ‘topics’ has been on my mind for years, and something which I’ve been meaning to write about as someone who has gone through it.
At present I have just started my second year of my degree (in photography), but if we re-wind back to 2015 I was in a very different place.
Straight off of my foundation course (in Fashion) I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in Fashion and moved up north to start a degree in that subject. As someone who used to plan everything-life move/s etc to the nth degree I never would of thought I would be that person to drop out. But fast forward to November of that year, I wasn’t in a good place – mentally or physically and with the support of my family, I was on the train home by the end of that month, and signed the papers declaring my departure. Looking back it was probably one of the best life decisions I’ve made so far, and you really don’t get to grips with how unhappy you are until you’ve left that situation.
The one question that I was constantly asked was “are you going to go back, and start another degree?” You would have assumed that this ‘experience’ would’ve completely put me off the idea of starting at another university. But low and behold it didn’t, and instead made me realise what I WANTED from a degree. It’s so easy to get caught up on a course that you hate, and feel pressure to see it through till the bittersweet end but in all fairness my health was at the epicentre of this, and I had to make the adult decision to put it first.
Dropping out is a taboo subject, I think I’m the only one from my friendship group who has, but what people don’t realise is that there is this ‘invisible’ pressure to know what you want to do and picking a degree can have a huge influence on that. Especially if that degree doesn’t live up to your expectations. Taking a ‘year off’ from education in 2016, allowed for other opportunities to come my way, and pursue an area of photography (photographing some of my favourite bands/musicians) that wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t drop-out.
To end with, if you ever find yourself at a crossroad in important decision making (I’m not just talking about whether you should have that extra slice of pizza-you should), always go with your gut as 9 times out of 10 it’s normally right.
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