“So here’s to “what you make of it,” no matter what “it” is.”

It is what you make of it

“It is what you make of it.” This was the advice I heard many years ago when I was a student, that again came up recently about my own kids’ education. My two children have made the best of their middle and high school studies in a severely-limited lockdown situation during the pandemic. This school year, they are back in class in local public schools, but it’s not always smooth sailing for my kids and their peers.

Much of education, however, is “what you make of it.” That’s not to say that all schools and classes are alike – far from it. You may have an uphill battle daily with classes and teachers, and you may have a school environment that’s not conducive to learning. Your school may be severely underfunded and instructors uninterested. It may be too focused on sports, or too focused on academics. It may be too competitive – or not challenging enough. There may be toxic social cliques. (Note: some schools are plagued with violence, which is beyond the scope of what I’m discussing here.)

It is not always easy

At most schools, you could still make something of it – find a mentor, develop an interest, join or start a club, bond with a team, meet a lifelong friend. In a less-than-awesome school, you’ll have fewer choices and more challenges, but usually, you still have opportunities. If you work to find that positive thing, you’ll eventually graduate from a negative situation with something of value, or maybe you’ll get the chance to transfer out to another school.

It’s not always an easy task to do this, but it is a very Stoic endeavor. It centers around framing your own experience and deciding how you think about it, and finding a way forward despite challenges.

Feeling trapped at work

The same thing goes for work. Many (most?) jobs are less than stellar on a daily basis. I’ve worked at my share of roles like that, part-time and full-time. You feel trapped, thinking, “I need this job for the income, but it truly stinks, and I have no idea how I’ll find my next one.”

It’s a tough spot to be in, and more people are acting on those feelings in today’s “Great Resignation.” They’re taking the chance to escape jobs they hate, and find a new path.

You can always learn something new

Often, in an imperfect job, you still have some way of making it better for yourself while you consider your next move. Even at my least favourite job – as a retail salesperson for men’s sportswear – I did learn a few things. Namely, how to work an archaic electronic register and how to fold and gift wrap men’s XXXL sweaters. And in fact, I learned what I did not want to do in my next job – to work in retail clothing sales… or to lift and carry huge, heavy stacks of men’s sweatpants!

As careers evolve, we can continue to try to find value in new ways. In recent years, my jobs have given me the chance to do values clarification around what I care about most at work, helping define what I could aim to do in the future.

So here’s to “what you make of it,” no matter what “it” is.

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Meredith Kunz is a Silicon Valley based writer. You can read her blogs at thestoicmom.com and her tweets at @meredithkunz.

 

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