General Ramblings; Life Getting in the Way, Expectations Aren't Everything !

I've not writing a personal post in some time and now feels like the right time to explain where I've been, as I've been gone for quite some time. Writing this post feels so weird after having such a long break but yet it feels so good to finally have the motivation to sit behind my screen once again.

I decided after Easter that I needed to take until after my exams off from blogging (even though I had hardly been doing much anyway). It was one of those times in my life that didn't need to be recorded, many hours in the library and sat at a desk were no fun at all and something that no one really wants to read about either.

Coming out of my finals felt like such a breath of fresh air and yet somehow I am only just starting to come back down to earth. Exam are stressful, these ones, mainly because they dictate my degree classification!

I thought after my exams that I would have so much to blog about and so much to do yet I didn't do that. Finishing exams I somehow expected to have this great feeling and want to conquer the world. Yes, although I was really chuffed to be finished, the anticlimax of the whole thing also left me feeling deflated. The following weeks I spent trying to see people who I hadn't seen much of whilst revising, but because everyone was trying to see each other, so it resulted in frustration some of the time as well. I worked to earn enough money for my holiday yet got annoyed at myself for spending too much money at the same time and so I was finding myself easily frustrated, wanted to see people but not wanting to spend the money and then not being able to see people because they weren't free.

 

On Tuesday I finally managed to head home, as I was due to give a talk to my school about the opportunities that are available at university. Yesterday I drove,the hour and a half trip back to Leeds to assist at the University of Leeds open day, speaking to prospective students and getting them excited about the idea of uni. This all lead me to finally wanting to sit down and type today (to much of my own relief) because it finally made me remember just how incredible the past 4 years of my life (HOW HAS IT BEEN 4 YEARS).

Throughout my university experience there has been many ups and downs from breaking off a four and a half year relationship, to living in South Africa and seeing wild Cheetah on my birthday, to meeting some of my best friends and deciding what type of career path I think I want to pursue. University has been a large set of Lego pieces that I have constructed, deconstructed and then remade into the path I want to move forward in. Everyone always sets you up to expect university to be the best years of your life, some people big it up so much that there is a large anticlimax and you can be left thinking, is this it? This is exactly what happened to me on my last exam as an undergrad.

Photo Credit: Food Faith Fitness

So why tell you all this? Well, I guess I feel its something everyone goes through from time to time, whether it be at the end of GCSE, Alevels, University or leaving a job, even getting married (if you're at that stage of life), the feeling is completely normal. I've spoken to numerous people about it as well. We all spend so long being excited to finish something or to have the big event, that afterwards we are lost, in someways without a purpose, but, the main thing to remember is that most people are feeling the same way too.


What now? Well now I feel more focused than ever and I'm excited to get back into blogging, I also feel in the next year or so that as I evolve, I'm going to try and have my blog evolve too. That doesn't mean getting rid of things, more just tailoring my blog a little more towards my areas of interest, such as guiding people through how to avoid holidays with animal experiences that are not beneficial or cruel to wildlife, using make up brands that are cruelty free and fashion brands that are sustainable, but for now, I'm staying as me and so is E.K.W.

Photo credit: Letter Lessons

For anyone that is worried about life getting in the way and things not living up to expectations my advice would be this, you do not have to travel at 100mph an hour every day, sometimes you need some maintenance work so you can run at 150mph hour in the future and be better for it as well. Sometimes all it takes is a little reflection on how amazing your opportunities have been and the incredible things you have achieved to put things back in perspective, this week has reminded me just how incredible my journey through university has been, and just how exciting my opportunities for the next year are!

Photo credit: Amy Howard Social

Have you ever been through a down phase? What would your advice be to get out of a rut?

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