Rant: Desperate to be a Housewife

I’ve come to realise that, when it comes to your future employment, we’re deceived as children. As an intelligent young girl, I was put into advanced classes and taught “enriched” curriculums of maths and science. Throughout my school career I was encouraged to think about my future and which course I would take at University. The whole of my life was centred on my school education – the rest was just “extra-curricular”. Through my university studies, I felt I was still aiming for something – my “career”. I went overseas briefly, and then it began. To cut a long story short, 4 jobs and 5 years later I am entirely disenchanted with the whole process. Job satisfaction has slipped from average to non-existent, and I know I’m not alone.

So why did all of our teachers, role models and other leaders always tell us that we should spend our formative years solely preparing for this disappointment? Why didn’t they tell us that even if we slogged through our uni years and graduate with flying colours, we’d still be stuck with thousands of other graduates in the same un-fulfilling jobs? At least the let-down wouldn’t be so bad. At least we’d be prepared for the daily grind. But they would get us so excited about “our callings”, neglecting to tell us that if we chose anything half exciting it would probably lead to unstable employment at best, and that the more regular career paths would lead to daily dread.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken Home Ec at college. Surely learning how to run a successful household is more important than calculus? It completely baffles me how people can be so ambitious and strive to work longer hours and incorporate more stress into their lives (aka promotion). I have absolutely none of this ambition. My main goal in life right now is to finish off my novel, fight to get it published, and make enough money from it so that I can take a break to write the next one. In other words, I strive to leave the corporate world behind and focus on domestic matters. The long-term goals involve is for my husband, whose chosen passion will actually earn some money, to be the “breadwinner” and “bring home the bacon”. Will I actually get to enjoy life before the kids come along though? This is my dilemma. And this is the end of my rant. More upbeat, quirky posts in my usual tone to follow soon.