9 to 5 is Not the Death of the Artist
Two months before I graduated college, I was waitlisted for the only graduate program I applied to. Since I had stacked every egg into the graduate school basket, the surprise uncertainty triggered an existential crisis that most seniors had already experienced while I was trucking contentedly into my cushy post-college plan. Suddenly every potential path was simultaneously an option and not an option.
I must have sounded half-hysterical when I relayed everything to the professor who had become a sort of mentor to me that year. At one point I bleated about wanting to learn German while trying to explain the feeling that everything was impossible.
“Maybe you should go to Germany,” he said with his characteristic measured calm.
“Maybe I’ll go to Germany!” I said without any calm whatsoever.
There was something else behind my professor’s patient listening that I now identify as “relief that I had dodged such a massive bullet after putting the world’s biggest target on my back.” Because not going to graduate school forced me to get my first full-time job, which catapulted me into a series of fast, huge changes that predicated the true start of my adult life. Choosing “the real world” turned out to be not nearly as horrible as people made it sound in college. Even though my long-term goal was to be a writer, and writers spend a lot of time being upset about losing time for writing, what I discovered was that my job and real-life responsibilities didn’t inhibit me from my work. In fact, my 9 to 5 entry-level lifestyle made me more a productive writer than I had ever been before.
There are plenty of great reasons to go to graduate school (if your career requires it, for example). But I’m here to reassure creative types out there that the “real world” isn’t so bad either. With the routine and the worries and the potential soul-suckiness come experiences you’ll make into art. The autonomy to make your own life might be exactly what you need to commit to your creative work.
Here are some of the ways my writing life, and life in general, improved after I left school.
Free evenings and weekends
While I was in school, I imagined the working world requiring much more time and brain space than I ended up experiencing. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I also carefully maintained clear boundaries between my life and work. As a result, I was struck by the fact that my evenings and weekends were free to use exactly how I wanted to use them. Since I didn’t have reading or assignments to do, this ended up feeling like more free time than I had in college.
Reading whatever I want
I was an English major, which meant my required reading took up the most space on my nightstand. Not being in school allows me to read whatever I want, whenever I want! As an avid reader, this is a treasured kind of freedom.
Making money
As much as I wish money wasn’t so important in this world, having money is great. It may not “buy happiness,” but financial security provides necessary stability to do the things you want to do, especially for an artist.
Positive effect of routine
Some people find daily routines suffocating. I find them liberating, in their own way. My predictable routine allowed me to create a daily writing schedule with monthly goals. This schedule was the reason I could maintain a consistent output of finished work. I was also able to fit in time for new things to make me more well-rounded, like cooking and exercising.
Independence!
What’s better than having your own place, your own money, and your own life? Nothing, that’s what! I think independence is key to be a productive creative person, even if it’s hard to get that first job or make that first move. Not being tied to the requirements of an institution lays a good foundation for autonomous decision-making.
So what’s the catch?
You have to commit. While your life does belong to you now, it’s also extremely easy in the real world to do nothing at all. There’s no deadline anymore. No one will fail you. No one cares if you do or don’t do. But don’t let that stop you! Take control of your life and your habits. Don’t allow yourself to do the thing you’ve been “wanting” to do only when a professor requires it.
Two hours after I accepted my first job, that graduate program emailed me. I was taken off the waitlist, and offered a spot in the cohort. Sometimes, I wonder what my nervous, inexperienced twenty-one-year-old self would have done if they had gotten back to me first.
Then I get back to work.
