Well, that was a bit anticlimactic.
I have finished my degree. Finally it is all done. Actually, I finished it in May unofficially – but got my mark through on the 22nd July. Since then, I have noticed that my shoulders are riding a few inches lower than they were for the last half-decade or so.
Fantastic, I thought. Time to go out and celebrate! Oh yeah. Lockdown.
Time to go out and enjoy myselfwithout worrying! Oh yeah. Lockdown.
I can go and visit my… Oh yeah. Blooming lockdown!
This was a strange time. I was looking forward to walking into my place of work, and announcing my accomplishment to rapturous applause, except that no-one is there. I was looking forward to letting my hair down and catching up with people. I was looking forward to going places that I have had to put off because of constant coursework and assignment deadlines, but COVID put the kibosh on all that. Instead, the most bizarre feeling began to wash over me.
I was bored.
I didn’t have time to be bored when I was studying. It was always in the back of my mind that I had stuff to do. Every time I took a break for a day, I was aware that the hand-in date was looming ever closer. Now, I had nothing to worry about. But I also had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Sure, I could spend a day watching Netflix or playing games, but after getting used to the uni discipline it felt like a waste of time. There were loads of projects that I wanted to start, but in a sensation similar to Brewster’s Millions, I had done so much writing over the last few years I just wanted a break from that for a while. I couldn’t even go to my graduation ceremony, because they have all been cancelled for this year. I was very lucky that this pandemic had not affected my studies very much, but I had not anticipated that It would cause the euphoria of the achievement to subside so damn quickly.
In reality, I should not be complaining. After all, my daughter has been losing sleep over what was going to happen over her GCSEs, and everything went very well for me in comparison.
I think what it all boils down to is that this year is basically a write-off (no pun intended), and I think that I am going to continue to chill out, with the possibility of starting a few personal projects and enjoying the occasional box-set binge and then start fresh in 2021 – providing that COVID: The Sequel is not in full swing by then…
Stay safe people!
