Re-graduating: four lessons

Here I am: new desk, new office, new phone with more buttons than you can poke a stick at, new people, new work culture in which I have been affectionately nicknamed “Pup” (better than my last grad nickname, “Lucky Leong” – an unfortunate choice by a boisterous boss who liked alliteration).

Rarely does one get two bites at the cherry in life, let alone two bites at being a graduate. So what is it like returning as a graduate?

Perhaps I can share some insights gleaned over the last month as a comfort to grads but also to help those welcoming grads this year:

1. Graduating to Mad Monday
Don’t buy your weekly ticket on Monday. Lesson re-learnt. Check. Many people leave the suburbs and head into the city for work. It’s easy to feel lost and insignificant – one of the nameless mob who methodically trudge to work. Finding a familiar face – a travel buddy, a lunch partner – eases this feeling. A friendly face at work who shouts a grad a coffee to ask how they are adjusting is worth a million kitchen “how are you's”.

2. Graduating to the Concrete Jungle
Sydney ain’t New York, but the Jay-Z lyric still applies – “Concrete jungle where dreams are made of”. The city is vibrant and full of promise and yet for others, the city jungle is a tangled forest of unknowns – where is a good place to eat? Will anyone talk to me? What do I say? Will I fit in? Will I impress? The jungle works both ways and that’s ok.

3. Graduating to Zombieland
Especially for those commuting, working full time can look like this: Wake up – catch public transport – walk to work – work – walk back to transport – go home – it’s late, eat dinner – stare blankly at TV – tired – sleep and the cycle starts again. Such monotony can lead to despair as you, along with your social life, are deprived of the air that is free time. You do feel like a zombie. If you are a grad, be kind to yourself. Your body does adjust. Trust me. In the mean time, there’s always the other elixir of life: coffee.

4. Graduating to the bigger picture
I distinctly remember feeling boxed in as a graduate. Funny, the second time round was no different. And yet this time, I remembered how I made the transition last time. It was seeing the bigger picture. It seems obvious as I type it now but - there is more to life than being a grad. There is more to life than work. When I saw the bigger picture, it helped me make sense of smaller details – where work, family, friends, sport, hobbies fitted in. For the record, I still play DOTA once a week.

The tag line of City Bible Forum is “ask the bigger questions” Understanding the bigger picture and asking the bigger questions helps makes sense of the everyday. Without the bigger picture, the small spills over to dominate the whole. With the bigger picture, life makes sense.

What is the bigger picture? Come along to any of the public forums City Bible Forum runs and ask. If you are a grad, I am part of the team that helps grads with this transition – e.g. we run an event called Welcome to the Jungle - so shoot me an email. More than happy to find fellow-companions on this journey.

“Pup” is our newest member at City Bible Forum Sydney. Having completed a Commerce Law degree at UNSW, he recently graduated from Moore Theological College with a Bachelor of Divinity (Honours 1A). He has a mixed range of TV tastes – Downton Abbey, Sherlock Holmes and the Wiggles – which reflects his family of three – Mark, Grace and 2 year old Annabelle.