Not all who wander are lost

I remember in Grade 9 I chose to do Accounting based on knowing Chartered Accountants earn a lot of money. If I didn't become a CA, I wanted to become a stockbroker. So after high school I studied BCom Rationum at the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) and I used to be so chaffed when people asked me what is that...rationum that is. I gladly explained that I had two majors Economics and Business Management. I associated BCom with earning a lot of money, it didn't matter whether I liked it or not. I realised at the end of my first year, this was not what I had bargained for. As much as I love numbers and reading, but this is not what I saw myself doing for the rest of my life.

I was brave enough to tell my mother that I would rather work and then I'd get a bursary through an organisation so I can study again. She was not happy about me dropping out of university, but for me it was liberating to be able to stand up to my mother. Coming from a family where both my parents went through university and received their degrees and my family firmly believes it is important to get an education. I felt like an outcast and new that I had to return to university at some point in my life.

When I came to Cape Town, I worked at the South African Revenue Services (SARS) for about two years. I started becoming depressed because my life was not going the way; I had imagined it would go. I read a book by Deepak Chopra, Synchro Destiny and it explains how everything is one. You will never see a school of fish colliding; they all swim in one direction in synch. It also further asks you to look at your achievements in life and what you were doing in the last five years. This made me look at my achievements in high school; I had done debating, public speaking, drama. I love to speak, to be heard, to express myself in spoken and written language.

After a couple of months I had decided that I wanted to study journalism. I later found in the newspaper, an advertisement for a bursary from City of Cape Town to study Public Relations. I took that opportunity and have never looked back. The information that I have from doing one year of BCom Rationum has become relevant while studying PR. So bottom line whatever I learnt wasn't obsolete, I still use it today. I might have wandered doing BCom, but it led me to be honest with myself and find something that I love.