A Way Out Isn’t Always a Way Forward

At the hairdresser’s last week, I heard the story of Marnie, the new apprentice.

Marnie wasn’t happy at school and really didn’t want to continue. A friend of her mum’s knew about a role at the local salon, so here she was.

It seemed like a good solution. An opportunity, a qualification, something to say when people asked what she was doing. Everyone could breathe out a little.

Problem was that the work itself didn’t seem to interest Marnie much. It turned out she was trying to stick with it because she knew she didn’t want to return to school.

It seemed that her choices had come to feel like hairdressing or school, and neither held much appeal to her.

In a conversation in the salon, it came out that once she had finished the apprenticeship, she wanted to travel overseas and work with children.

Wait, what?

Four years learning a trade she wasn’t particularly interested in, before exploring something she thought she’d enjoy?

I wanted to know more. What appealed to her about working with children? Had she had a chance to explore that? And did it really need to wait until she went overseas?

The adults around her were trying to help, and Marnie was trying to make it work. I can understand how an opportunity that solves the immediate problem – getting out of school and into a job – can become a plan everyone gets behind.

Getting an opportunity like Marnie did can be a great launching pad. But knowing what interests her would give her much more to go on when deciding whether it’s an opportunity she wanted to pursue. For Marnie, her interest in working with children was a clue worth following. It could open up possibilities she hadn’t considered – and perhaps help her find her way there sooner than she’d imagined.

I hope it works out for her. I guess I’ll find out in a couple of weeks!

Marnie isn’t her real name.