Life As An Experiment

Have thought about writing this for a while, probably because a) the situation is one that has been and is so challenging for a lot of people, but also b) it has taken some accepting of the fact that I am not quite where I thought I was or want to be mentally. This period has been a big eye opener, and one that I know is even more important for me to treat as an experiment. Testing myself now, in very unusual circumstances, I know will help to make me stronger when we come out of this. Hold the vision, trust the process. This phrase is something I have reminded myself of daily for a while now; it has become even more important whilst in isolation. And in all honesty, I believe it speaks volumes, in so many different ways.  Whether it be a vision of something you may want to achieve in your job, a skill or sporting achievement, or to do with your recovery. Whatever that vision is, that is what you have to hold on to. Your job is to just persevere with the process of getting t...

Having just returned to uni after summer, going into my final year, it genuinely got me thinking how there have been a lot of times that I never thought I'd reach this point. My university experience, as a whole, has been very up and down; I didn't get on the course I wanted to so had major course doubts, a lot of family situations have come up over the last two years and I just don't think I was in the best of headspaces at times. For me, dropping out has been a very serious option at least 3 times. But obviously, uni has also been amazing. I've met some of the most amazing people who all mean so much to me, in so many different ways and have also learnt so much about myself as a person. In December 2016, my first term here at York, I thought that was it for me. I just wanted to leave. I really really was not enjoying my course, I felt a bit shitty and I thought, maybe this uni thing isn't for me. Especially as all I had seemed to hear was 'its the best time...

We all as people find it far too easy to come up with excuses telling ourselves when we don’t feel just quite right it is normal and we just need to get on with it. Now, A) this isn't wrong, because what is normal? But B) if we don't feel quite right why do we just ignore it instead of giving the treatment and attention it needs early on? It really is no different to a physical injury. If we think about it, there is no normal. Because who decides what normal is? The only things we should ever compare in life is ourselves, how we have felt before, how we feel now, stuff like that. It is very ordinary to have ups and downs, because things change and life moves on, but recognising these differences just mean we are being observant. To be able to come out and speak up about how you're feeling shows that you are strong. It shows that, if you aren't feeling so good, you want to feel different, because you know how this difference feels. You can recognise that you may not ...