Being a Full-Time Student to Working Full-Time: A Rewarding Transition

This past year I was a first year student studying at the UVIC campus.

I did four classes per semester and found free time limited which kept me from even wanting a job as a full-time student.

After the winter session was finished, the campus closed and I returned back to my hometown in Saskatchewan to work for the summer.

I chose not to enrol in any spring or summer classes and went back to doing my full-time job as a lifeguard. The transition from being a fresh full time university student to going back to working an old full-time job was an adapting experience.

I felt more adult-ish than ever. I returned to the comfort of my old environment yet felt like a new matured version of myself with greater independence and a more self-oriented focus. 

Being a returning staff member gifted me new leadership skills, while being away from my norm for almost an entire year made work more enjoyable and rewarding.

I felt that the eight month break gave working an old job more value than it did before. I’ve now been working as a lifeguard for the fourth summer in a row. I feel excited and motivated to work and am happy to be someone that new staff look up to like I look up to older university students.

This made me realize that experience gives people entitlement, seniority, and greater responsibility. If you return to a past job or environment after taking a break from the repetition to focus on yourself and experience a new/different job or environment, there’s opportunity to appreciate, enjoy and create a healthy relationship with your previous job or environment.

I entered my old environment with a negative mindset of thinking I’d be reliving my past while wishing I could stay in Victoria. Now, I am as happy as ever knowing that I’m returning to my past environment as a new person to exhibit growth.

I am at peace with knowing that I am right where I need to be in order to become my happiest most experienced self.

I love working my old job and being in a past environment because I’ve returned as a new person who can create new experiences from growth and change.