Why I didn't go to university

I love learning but I hate education.

I had quite a big response from my last post. All positive of course, I'm surrounded by wonderful people. I realised that I can be quite negative at times which might seem a bit strange for some people. Don't get me wrong, I am a very happy person. I try my best to not obsess over delicate matters that may get me down. Of course, that's not always possible, I think a lot. However I genuinely believe I'm just being realistic. I have learned to not get too excited over things because most times it doesn't live up to my expectations. College for example. While it benefitted me learning more about the music industry, it became a nuisance and difficult place to be. Which leads nicely into my next question. Why didn't I go to university? And more importantly, must you?

Year 13 was messy and everyone had that horrific feeling of the next big decision coming up. I felt particularly pressured by college to go into further education. We all did. It was wired into our brains that unless we went to university, our lives were over and we wouldn't ever amount to anything. Just a heads up, I am not completely slating going continuing your education. For many people, it works for them and if it can give you a better path to a career then absolutely go for it. So many people don't know what they want to do and that (on the contrary of every career advisor I've spoken to) is completely fine. I am extremely fortunate that I have been performing and writing for a while so I was already in quite a stable place.

I began my search for a songwriting course which evidently, is hard to come by. A noticed this one place that some of my friends went to and it looked very suitable. However, problem no.1 came into view. I didn't want to leave home. My family is everything and being away from them filled me with dread. I became anxious and closed off whenever someone mentioned uni to me but I applied for the course and had an offer. I guess I was going.

Relating to my earlier point, college never gave me satisfaction. I felt like I was wasting time. Funny thing was I was studying a music course there. How could a music course make me feel like I was still being held back with being a singer/songwriter? With the expectations of college being demolished, would uni be the same? The fees were high and daunting. So there was problem no.2. Would it be worth it?

The more I thought about uni, the more worried I became. I spoke about it with negativity. There was no excitement and I was consistently 50/50 about it. Thankfully, I had a gig at St George's Hall in Bewdley supporting two incredible artists from Nashville. My performance went well and the audience were incredibly kind. I was speaking to this one lady who asked what I was going to do after college. I explained my plan of doing a songwriting course and seeing where I ended up. She responded with something I genuinely didn't expect. She asked 'Why?'.

That was the turning point. I knew how to write songs. I know (to an extent) what I have to do to further my career. I decided that I did not want to go to university and it has been the best decision I've ever made. I support my friends to continue to learn and grow without any regrets for not venturing into further education myself. If you're not 100% certain that uni is for you, don't go. Also I'm only 18! We are so young to be making decisions like this and one thing to understand is that we are all at very different stages in our life. Don't think that all is lost because you're following a different path. Just go ahead and prove them wrong. That's my plan anyway.

(Actually I just didn't want to leave my dog. At least I'm honest. Also I wouldn't have met some cool dudes at my gig at the Cock and Magpie. Just sayin'.)