I, like everyone else it seems, was completely enthralled by the recent Netflix adaptation of David Nicholl’s 2009 novel ‘One Day.’ Having seen the movie version years ago, I was intrigued and admittedly slightly sceptical as to how it would play out as a series, but safe to say it was 100% the right move to do so. Adapting the novel into a limited series allows for Emma and Dexter’s relationship to be explored in the level of depth required to keep audiences engaged and, ultimately, devastated in watching their relationship unfold.
However, storyline aside, what resonated with me whilst watching the show as a final-year undergrad was the comfort that I felt in watching all of the characters’ lives change throughout their 20s. As I approach graduation, I am feeling an inescapable pressure to know what I want to do with my life, and that the choices that I make over the next few years will have a large impact on the projection of the rest of my life. Typically, my concerns revolve around career goals and travelling. Do I take some time out and travel? Will that mean I’m behind everyone else in my career? What do I even want to do as my career? Should I know that? Watching the characters in ‘One Day’ figure all of this out in such a relatable way made me feel much less anxious about it all. Graduating Uni was the beginning of their story, making it feel much less final and overwhelming to me. Here are the key takeaways that I got from ‘One Day’ that made me feel more at ease in entering the post-grad ‘real world.’
Jobs will change
Throughout the series, we see Dexter and Emma navigating a range of career pathways before eventually settling into things that they love. Out of Emma and Dexter, I feel like Emma’s career struggle is the more relatable of the two. She starts in a travelling theatre group and quickly rules this out as a long-term career plan, demonstrating that if the job you think you’ll enjoy straight out of graduation doesn’t work out – that’s okay. She then decides to move to London to set out to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming a writer. Moving to London is something that she never saw herself doing, demonstrating how much your mind can change. Something you might have previously sworn against might end up working for you – and that’s okay as well. When her dream of becoming a writer is not enough to support her, she is forced to work in a job that she hates for a while, showing that your career journey may not always be smooth sailing. After this, she embarks on teaching – again something that she never saw herself doing but she’s good at it and seems to enjoy it. Although it’s not her dream, it was interesting to see her enjoy something that she was so against doing at first. Finally, we see her as an accomplished writer, living out her dream having gone through the aforementioned career changes. She doesn’t achieve this until about 9 years after she graduates so if you’re either unsure about what you want to do or like Emma, know exactly what you want to do but it doesn’t seem to be working out for you at first, give it time. Especially in the modern labour market, it is highly likely that you will experience a range of jobs before eventually landing on your final career destination.
Travel is always possible
If travelling is something that you are thinking of as an option, it is not necessarily something that has to be done straight out of university. Although this is the path that Dexter takes going straight from graduating to finding his way around Europe, this isn’t always a realistic option. I find myself constantly seeing TikToks pushing a narrative that “if you don’t travel straight after Uni, you’ll never end up doing it.” The main factor which, to me, makes this an unrealistic expectation is that travelling is expensive. It is okay if you know that you want to go travelling, but also know that you will need to be able to make enough money to do so comfortably. You can always find a grad job, get an early start in your career journey, save up enough money and then take a break and go. There is nothing to say that once you start your career, you cannot take time out in your mid-late twenties (or even later than that) to live out your travelling dreams. It is not something that is either done in the first few years of graduating or not at all. Alternatively, it’s also possible to travel and work at the same time. Although this is perhaps a less conventional way to do it, why not take advantage of the post-COVID work-from-home approach that so many companies take and do this from another country? Or, like Emma, you could end up in a job that incorporates travel as a part of it. Just because it might not be possible to do the typical taking time out straight after Uni to travel, doesn’t mean it isn’t an option at all if it’s something you are passionate about experiencing.