When Life Doesn't Go To Plan

So as my last post made clear, I'm out of education now and planning for my future. That post was full of excitement, and I am excited still, it also failed to show the reality of where I'm at right now.

For the first time in 20 years I am out of education and it is terrifying. I know exactly what I want from life, I have a 10 year plan and everything. But I only know how to get there in theory not in practice. And, hand on heart, not being certain and secure in my certainty is a terrifying prospect.

I'm sure that everyone has these expectations about how their life is going to go. I know I did. And I'm not disenchanted or anything, but the reality does not live up to the expectations at all.

Expectation: Finish my BA, get a part time internship or job with a small publishing firm, and get my MA on top of that.
Reality: Finish my BA, lose the part time retail job I had, finish my MA, start a new part time retail job - Zero publishing experience.

In hindsight, I was definitely very naive about how easy everything would be, and that's made it a bit harder for me to handle my situation as it is now.

So, I'm taking off the rose tinted glasses and looking at things realistically. Yes, some parts of my 10 year plan have been pushed back a few years, and I do feel a little bit like I'm wasting my education. But , this negativity is acting as a little shove in the right direction, and hopefully it'll all come right in the end.