Rebecca Crawford (MA 2003) shares her journey of adventure from Scotland to New Zealand and reflects on her choice to always do something interesting over the relentless search for ‘the thing’.
As I sit by the fire in the chilly South Island of New Zealand approaching Matariki (Māori new year and a time for reflection, remembrance and renewal) I’m tempted to muse on the lofty topic of ‘my journey’ by weaving a tale of bold choices with a clear narrative thread leading to my impressive success as a finance lawyer active in the local community. Unfortunately, that would be complete poppycock.
When I finished at St Andrews, I had many – too many – ideas about what to do with my life and a nagging sense that I hadn’t found the thing. At the turn of the millennium, as I suspect it is now, the thing was an overwhelming fiction. Without it I felt bereft. What could I do? My answer? The next interesting thing. It’s been less an ethos and more of a practical need to eat, stay indoors, and occupy my mind.
Like many, many others I only ever worked in my St Andrews degree subjects of International Relations and Middle East Studies while I was studying. After I finished, I went back to my summer job of freelance graphic design. Design and marketing were interesting and fun, and people were willing to pay for my work, so I did more of that. My CV started to look like that was what I did so I returned to study design and digital media. Finishing a design degree at Edinburgh just as the design work that partially funded it dried up was a classic timeline twist.
However, there were marketing jobs going so I went for one of those at a start-up in Edinburgh and got it. A couple of years later I was doing the marketing for Deep Sea World – Scotland’s National Aquarium (that was my idea). There are not many jobs that include swimming with sharks as a perk. I moved from Deep Sea World to deep sea technology and can comfortably say that I have learned and forgotten more technical detail about working with fibre rope at depth than I ever imagined possible.
For those who are still with me, you’ll note we have not yet left Scotland. My Scottish husband suggested we move to New Zealand, which sounded intriguing. Graphic design was on the skills list, and we could always move back if we didn’t like it – or so I thought. As a US citizen on a UK residence visa this assumption was absolutely incorrect and I recommend that you always check the fine print. Luckily for us it worked out. I found work on a local museum redevelopment project and ticked along doing graphic design and marketing.
Ticking along isn’t very interesting. At 30+ it felt like time for a grown-up career, so I changed my path again and studied law, which to my pleasant surprise I do find really interesting. Will I always feel that way about it? Probably not. And that is OK. Doing interesting things has made for a life that feels like an adventure with possibility ahead and great stories behind.
I’d challenge you to find the next interesting thing and do it. Who knows where you might end up!