Just Nicky

All the news that’s fit to print May 12, 2006

A decision has been made. A good one.

I’m not going back to work. I’m going to uni.

The more I thought about it the less I wanted to return to office work in June/July. A phone call from my friend Robert telling me about the short-term contract he’s taken at Axa really drove it home. Going back to to doing what I used to do in a corporate environment just seemed like the most soul destroying thing I could imagine. So I thought about it and talked about it with Mark.

Ever since I dropped out of Swinburne 20 odd years ago I’ve wanted to go back and complete a degree. And I’ve tried to study part-time a few times while working full-time, but it’s not something I seem to be able to manage. There’s always a tension between the 2 and the full-time job ends up winning. I kind of promised myself that one day I’d be able to go to uni full-time, never really believing that it would happen.

This is my golden opportunity to do it. Our only debt is our mortgage and it’s not particularly large. Our day to day living expenses are relatively low. Finn isn’t yet at the age where he needs or wants to be involved in expensive activities, or to wear brand name clothes. There will never be a better time to do this. Money will be tight. We will have to be frugal with a capital FRU, but I believe we can do it and I really, really want to give it a go.

I’m doing a couple of subjects by distance ed through Open Universities this year to get back into the habit of thinking, reading and writing in the right paradigm and intend to study on campus next year. Which institution I don’t know. It will depend upon who’ll take me… At the moment I’m planning a BA in Psych, which is what I’ve always wanted to do, but I’ll play it by ear a little and see what piques my interest when I get going. If I’m really lucky I still might be able to get some credit for some of the subjects I did on my last study attempt and that could make the whole thing go much more quickly.

The ultimate aim of this is to move myself into a career that I can take through to retirement and beyond. I don’t believe that I will be ready to do ‘nothing’ when I’m 60 or 65 and I’m pretty sure that whatever pension/superannuation is available won’t be sufficient to keep me going at that stage, so I want to position myself with a skillset that I can keep using, should I need it, well into my wrinkly years.

Mark & I are both a bit anxious about this, but overall I feel really good about it. I can’t wait to get started.