I don’t know how many people this affects, and nor do I have any answers or words of encouragement to avoid or cure this malady, but I write this piece as a warning to those currently studying at the OU. Especially if you enjoyed it as much as I did and have a predisposition to letting your feelings shape your behaviour, like me.
My post-study slump hasn’t been a sudden sadness, or bout of depression, but a slow burn of despondency and low spirits. No TMAs to work towards, no reading lists to collect and work through. No note taking or filing or forum interaction. No active WhatsApp groups with people that really understand what you yourself are going through, as they are in exactly the same place.
When I write something now it can be in any format. No more going to the study guide to find the spacing, font and header information required, like I have for the previous six years. Perhaps a form of institutionalisation has been foisted upon me from the Open University totalitarian despots in their educational regime.
One is free, and in that freedom one finds themselves trapped. Of course the OU is not to blame. The institution has provided me with six years of study, stretching what I thought I was capable of, showing me worlds within our world that I never knew existed and giving me a previously unknown level of discipline and dedication. For all of that I will be eternally grateful.
Just be aware, dear reader, that when your studies are over and you are not thrust further into study or the world of work related to your subject, or maybe even if you are, that there could be a cloud looming overhead that you didn’t see coming. And know that you are not alone. Know that it’s probably a normal reaction to finishing something so intense. The way a really good film or book stays with you after it is finished.
As I said in the introduction, I have no cure or advice for this period. My own slump finished suddenly. Now, I find myself glued to my keyboard, half a dozen projects on the go, a spring in my step and a smile on my face.
The Open University set me free. And I am thriving!
Has anyone else experienced a post-study slump? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
I’ve got one more module to go and I am feeling it already. I’ve quit my job. I live in a new country where it is hard to make friends. What will I do when I am done?
Good luck with your thriving! Maybe I will thrive too.
You must be near the end or at the end of your study by now. Any follow up? Have you found the way?
I’m in the middle of TMA01 of my last module. Four more to go, and then I will sit in my armchair and look out the window until I think of something better to do.