{"id":144866,"date":"2022-10-11T15:20:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T13:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=144866"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:27","slug":"not-a-hustler-nor-a-monk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/10\/11\/not-a-hustler-nor-a-monk\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a hustler, nor a monk"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m currently doing my final semester in the international management CEMS master\u2019s programme. That could not be said for the half of my class, who are already posting their congratulatory LinkedIn essays about having started a full-time job. \u201cHey!\u201d, I want to scream at them. \u201cOur programme director told us not to do that!\u201d I never thought being a teacher\u2019s pet would mean choosing the road less ambitious.<\/p>

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>, \t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It\u2019s confusing for a Swede to be surrounded by central European ambition. Am I also supposed to exit my student life and enter my work life simultaneously? Even my dad, who embodies the protestant work ethic, is Swedish enough to tell me I\u2019m supposed to be lost for six months post-graduation and then find a job.<\/p>\n

But knowing whether I should post my new job on LinkedIn six months pre- or post-graduation is not the problem. The problem is that I have no clue what to post in the first place. The traditional routes my peers go \u2013 consulting firms, graduate programmes, start-ups or fintech \u2013 have never really interested me. Yet, it hasn\u2019t dawned on me until now that my five-year business studies were there to prepare me for exactly that. It\u2019s as if I gave in to a five-year long sales talk with a person at a store, thinking both of you were just killing time, until she says: \u201cSo are you interested?\u201d And you answer: \u201cOh, no, I wasn\u2019t planning on buying anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\u2018Wise philosophers keep telling me that the pointless life misses no meaning\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Whenever I share this state of confused existence with friends, they usually give the pragmatic tip to just be in the present. That is a fair tip if you happen to know what path you\u2019re on, it\u2019s not hard to listen to the birds chirping when you\u2019re following a 3-kilometre man-made trail. But when you are lost in the middle of the woods with no trail near you nor any reception, well, then the present moment just feels a little less cosy.<\/p>\n

The wise philosophers keep telling me that the pointless life misses no meaning. But right now, I\u2019m walking between all the paths not taken, without feeling its poetic beauty. It seems to me that I\u2019m neither a hustler whose goal-driven life gives them a sense of meaning nor a monk who transcends having goals in the first place. I\u2019m just confused.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t