I have many been told many times that you can never be too old to take a degree and that you can take more degrees.
I have also met people who use their age as a reason for not taking an education. And then there are those who choose to remain in a profession that may be unhealthy because you have to stand by the choices you have made. What is the correct point of view?
I have many been told many times that you can never be too old to take a degree and that you can take more degrees.
I have also met people who use their age as a reason for not taking an education. And then there are those who choose to remain in a profession that may be unhealthy because you have to stand by the choices you have made. What is the correct point of view?
Although I myself have not chosen to take a new education, I have chosen a completely new direction in my career when I chose to become independent. Since I graduated as a journalist at the age of 24, I had been an employee – both in the public and private sectors. I have been an ordinary employee and have held managerial positions.
When my family and I chose to move to Denmark for personal reasons, I had hoped that my CV would provide access to a job. The varied experiences I had accumulated over 20 years did not open a door, so I threw myself into a life of self-employment. It was nerve wracking and I was often running around with stomach aches.
It was hard not to have a fixed monthly salary and regular colleagues that you could meet every day. I don’t know how many times I considered the possibility of doing another degree. But what would I become? How were we going to make it fit together financially, time-wise and in the family? A lot of considerations, which made me delay a possible decision.
Instead, I focused on work and was struck by loneliness and was down with stress a few times – luckily not severely. In order to stabilize my everyday life and my workload, I chose to accept a part-time position as an interpreter, even though I had a hard time getting a title that didn’t fit my skills (I can’t do simultaneous interpreting at all, but translate written materials). But it ended approx. a year later. I missed my profession, also the exciting and changeable life as a self-employed person.
Now, together with two others, I have started a new small web-based media for Greenlanders in Denmark: Tusarfik. It’s tough. There is a lot of work involved in it. And it takes all my time.
If I had the courage and the energy, I could have chosen to find a new direction and choose to take a new education. I admire people who have the courage to take the plunge. I have a lot of respect for last week’s Inuit portrait of Qiteraq Eugenius, who chose to walk new paths because he was affected by stress. He is starting a new education that makes him happy. I have great respect for those who stop and feel whether the direction they have chosen is right or not.
I was stubborn when I was starting my education myself and fought to graduate because I didn’t want to be part of the statistics of young people who drop out. I use the same stubbornness to work through challenges, opposition and often impossible dreams. My life is often chaotic and busy. But it is my choice whether it is right or not.
I met a lot of young Greenlandic students at the career fair in Nordatlantisk Brygge this weekend. They chase and work for their dreams. They make choices for themselves and Greenland’s future. Whether they make it all the way, only time will tell. But I hope that each of them will feel whether the choices they have made are the right ones for themselves.
Because it is therefore more important to have a healthy relationship with your work and your career and to be happy with the choices you make. You can be replaced, but you cannot replace what you lose because of your work.
