What makes a good blogger? That would be honesty.
Since I graduated, I have been running low on content that doesn't focus on my life as a graduate because nothing about it is rosy. However, after evaluating the purpose of why I run my blog - three years since I started one - I am now open to giving you a peek into my life at this moment.
If you are new here, my name is Wanza and I am a recent university graduate. It has been five months of calling myself a graduate, and also five months of describing myself as unemployed.
I can't believe that I described myself as unemployed. It isn't a label that I was keen on using on myself, so I changed it to something else that I will mention a little later.
A question that I found very tough to answer would be the "What do you do?" one. For the longest time in my life, I have been identifying as a student. No one expects much from students because their only job would be to stay in school. Now, I am met with the expectation of people knowing what I do for a living.
I would find myself going mute, thinking about what to say following their inquisitive stare that longed for a thorough introduction after I introduced myself as Wanza.
That would make me not wish to interact with new people because I would have to introduce myself.
Another thing I would say is sort of disheartening would be the job search. I now know that looking for a job is a job in itself.
I haven't been job searching for long because I decided to enjoy my first three months or so as a fresh graduate. Of course, this was a privilege because there wasn't any pressure to move out and start all by myself, but I think it was smart of me to do so because choosing not to take that break wouldn't necessarily have guaranteed me employment today.
At the back of my mind, I also knew that my chances of getting employed were slim because of the current unemployment rate in Kenya. In short, I was ready for the possibility of tarmacking for a while (a while being a few months to years).
Something else that had been barring me from applying for a lot of jobs and internship opportunities was the uncertainty I felt about following my career path. I am a social worker by profession but I wasn't sure about the field I wanted to specialize in.
During my industrial attachment period, I settled for working in administration in my career field because I was more concerned about having hot lunches in the office and getting off work early. I heard that those who chose the practical side of things had to conduct field visits in the afternoons and I wasn't interested in that. I also didn't have much motivation to work with clients on a one-on-one basis.
I ended up switching career paths to something I was already doing on a part-time basis. I am now a full-time content writer. I can talk about the process of getting here in another blog post.
So, this is why I go by self-employed now rather than unemployed. However, that puts more on my shoulders as I have to constantly find clients and pitch my services to them. Despite that, I am happy to have one resume to give potential clients rather than the numerous ones I had to create for different social work job openings and internships in different fields.
I currently do not have a stable source of income, and this prevents me from doing a lot of things that I could do when I was still a student. Back then, I could save my fare and spend the savings on an item I liked or an experience. Since I am stationed at home, I don't get to save anything from the fare.
It does suck because I don't go out as much and as a result, I barely have enough photos to post on my blog's Instagram feed. Sometimes, I also feel a little miserable seeing my agemates on social media living it up when I'm still here, trying to make something off myself.
I doubt that I have mentioned the guilt that sometimes creeps up on me when I'm not looking for job opportunities, like when I'm simply taking time to do nothing. I am grateful that neither my parent nor myself is harsh on me because it can always get very dark...to the point of feeling worthless.
I have gotten there a few times myself. But, I am very happy that I have gotten back to blogging.
At the back of my mind, I was aware of the possibility of this being a sad (others may call it low vibrational) blog post. The intent was not to zap the joy out of you or to host a pity party.
I thought that this would be a good place to pick up from as an internet stranger you chose to navigate life with.
Because I know that I am ahead of some of you in terms of having already graduated and gone through this rough patch, you are welcome. I know how much this could have meant to me, and that is why I am doing this.
You should know that although this is the trajectory of my life, it doesn't mean that it will be the same for you. I do hope that you have it better.
My next blog post is going to be the remedy to all this 💉- things I have been doing to make it a better season to be in. Do stick around for that. If you want to talk or give feedback, you can leave a comment down below or DM me - your choice. Thanks for being here.
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