Shame
When you’re seventeen, in your last year of school, and you’ve no idea what career path to choose, August – the month of the VTAC form and the deciding on preferences – can appear to be hurtling towards you at the speed of The Cyclone at Dreamworld. And it can feel like you’re on a rollercoaster when you’re trying to figure out what ‘bliss’ you’re meant to be following. My daughter knows the feeling well. It hangs over her like an invisible question mark that follows her wherever she goes. We’ve brainstormed, tried work experience, executed processes of elimination. Lucky she’s a Gen Z, because statistics suggest she will change her career several times throughout her lifetime – so in the scheme of things, it may not matter if she doesn’t ‘get it right’ first time. Not so for this Baby Boomer. When I was eighteen I was accepted into Monash University to begin an arts degree. I enrolled in French, Spanish, Linguistics and Maths. I wasn’t sure where this combination of subjects woul