Sydney Life

Little hands and toes twinkled under the ballet studio white lights...from the side of the room, I watched my cousin perform her best demi-plies with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

It didn’t seem long ago that I was fluttering around in my pink tights and pinned hair with dreams of being a ballerina too.

But like most children, my interests transformed with the most unpredictable speed…and that was ok.

It wasn’t a sign of weakness or misdirection. I was only a young girl with no shame in changing her mind or following a whim.

As we get ‘older,’ it seems the freedom to ‘dabble’ loses its momentum. The magic that imbues so many new and novel experiences as children, fades. Mostly, I think we become curbed by expectations… Primarily, those we place on ourselves to find a career path and stick to it.

Now in third year uni I’ve been fielding the question ‘so what do you want to do?’ for roughly four years. I’ve perfected a somewhat garbled response that does enough to cover the bases.

The truth is, I’m never going to be able to accurately forecast where I’ll ‘be in five years.’ Apart from struggling with a clear direction, there’s no way I can know what opportunities will come along.

I know that by taking conscious decisions for your future like going to uni and finishing a degree, you are carving out some kind of direction for yourself. However, I’m worried that uni heralds a time in our lives when the weightless fluttering of childhood has to be left behind in order to ‘make something of ourselves.’

Completing Uni and the joining the workforce doesn’t mean you are locked into a certain future.

You will never only be an ‘accountant,’ a ‘journalist’ or a ‘teacher’. Most people go on to change career paths or directions throughout their lives. I’d hope that I’ll be continually learning and developing new interests.

I’m determined not to be afraid to make mistakes and look more broadly for other complimentary ways to foster interests and seek opportunities. Start spinning – be the ballerina. Keep the wonder and interests alive.

I’m interstate visiting family this week. I’ve spent the last few days playing good old fashioned board games by the fire, feeding the strangely hostile alpacas on my cousin’s farm and being treated to recorder, violin and keyboard concerts.

For the moment, I have the pleasure of watching all these wide-eyed little people growing up. Their energy is infectious. They throw themselves into every new experience. My cousin might not be twinkling her toes next year but I know she’ll be diving into something else head on. I can only hope to take a small leaf out of her book.