Since the start of September last year, all I've had to look forward to are uni assignments piled on top of uni assignments - until 3 weeks ago that is. I handed in my last 3,000 word essay and I was set free to enter a 4 month long summer with no uni stress in sight. I jumped straight into it and spent a week in Cornwall with my uni pals to celebrate and had the time of my life attempting to surf (very badly), having a spa day and drinking many glasses of prosecco at a beach BBQ. It was just what I needed.
However, now back in my hometown of Leicester and having caught up with old friends and seen all the distant family members, I'm sort of stuck in a rut. It's like you fantasise for so long throughout the year what you're going to get up to in the holidays, but in reality it never turns out the magical, sugar-coated way you think.
I'm struggling to find a summer job as most companies want permanent candidates and work experience opportunities seem to be all booked up. The weather's on and off and so are my friends as they're busy a lot of the time with their own going-ons in life. I'm a single (independent) woman, so it's not like I can drag a poor lad around with me to do activities here and there. So, I reckon in-between the job hunting, I'm just going to spend most of my days lying on the sofa with my cat completing marathons of Gossip Girl. Sigh?
But this had me thinking. This happens almost every time I'm looking forward to time off for a long period. Even over the 3 week breaks around Christmas or half terms back in my days of school, the big expectations of time off always lead to a bit of disappointment - well, most of the time. Maybe it's time that I start living more in the moment of life and instead of wishing time along all the while, I should just be thankful that I'm busy sometimes and achieving things in life. I should be thankful that I have friends that want me to go on a night out with them even though I have a 9am lecture the next morning with an in-class test the day after that I need to revise for. I should just take a few days out of my life right now to binge-watch some Netflix as what harm is that going to do? I'll soon be in a full-time job, looking back at my life in 10 years thinking, "God, I wish I could spend a week on the sofa watching lie detector results on Jeremy Kyle" or "God, I wish I could go and get slaughtered in Oceana tonight even though it's a Wednesday."
You've got to take life as it comes, be spontaneous and just enjoy whatever stage you're at in your years on this planet. Plan fun things to keep you active but bugger it and take out some well deserved 'me' time to find out who the hell Gossip Girl is once and for all! You'll soon be back to those 3,000 word essays in September...
Hannah x
