Life In A Nutshell

It's been far too long. I feel like I haven't had a chance to catch up with myself recently, to allow myself to freely express the feelings and thoughts going through my mind, while also sharing little snippets of my life with my blog, which also happens to be one of my favourite things to write about. So this is it, this is my life lately, grab a cup of tea, pack of biscuits and settle down into some place comfortable.

I finished my first year of university. It feels like the year of the fresher has absolutely flown by, until I think back and remember just how much I have achieved in the short space of 9 months. Attending university begins as a huge change, you suddenly find yourself in this foreign city, surrounded by strangers and with this new found responsibility and independence to actually survive on your own. The saying that you never quite realise how lucky you until you lose something that you take for granted until it's gone has never been more true when you take into consideration all of the washing, cooking and cleaning that you now have to juggle along with studying, exercising and socialising. Things can seem a little daunting, but the independence that you gain from this experience will help you huge amounts to further yourself in life. I have come out the other side with a First class grade, better cooking skills, the actual ability to iron, professional moaning about coursework skills and a really close bunch of friends as well as some amazing experiences and memories that I can hopefully extend upon going into my second year.

Work Work Work. Since finishing university I have gone back to my little part time job working as a waiter at a little country hotel nearby to where I live. Although I think it is perceived as an 'easy' job, I think a lot of people can underestimate how difficult being a waiter can be sometimes, especially due to the physical as well as mental challenges of the job (being on your feet all day is exhausting)! Also having to employ 'the customer is always right' even though 99% of the time the customer is most definitely not right, can become rather tedious. On the positive side, I feel like this job has given me the self confidence and ability to properly speak to new people, without feeling shy or reserved, purely down to the practice and throwing myself into that awkward situation of making conversation with someone that I will probably never see again, so it doesn't matter if I happen to mess up! 

I'm learning to drive. Finally, after 20 years of existence as a human, I actually had my first driving lesson today and you'll be happy to know that it went so much better than I expected. I try and go into each new challenge or experience in life with an open, positive frame of mind and find that it really helps me to learn new things quickly and have the confidence to push myself where others may hesitate. We started off going through some of the basics within the car such as adjusting the seat and getting used to which button or pedal performed which function before setting off. The gears are quite hard to get used to to begin with (such as not accidentally changing into forth instead of second and stalling) but with a bit of practice, you eventually get the hang of it. I actually picked it up so quickly that we decided to try the main road, junctions and even a roundabout it my first lesson (roundabouts are a lot less terrifying than they may seem, trust me) which I was honestly quite proud of myself for. Watch out world, you'll be seeing a lot more of me on the road in the future!

I have been saying yes to a lot more opportunities recently. I do, like so many other people out there, suffer from this FOMO (fear of missing out) but it is usually overwhelmed by a lack of self confidence that stops me from trying new things or seeing new places as often as I would like to for fear of leaving the safety of my comfort zone. Recently, I have been trying to push myself out of this little shell that I have constructed around myself and see more of the world around me, experience things that I never would have considered before, while constantly reminding myself that life doesn't go on forever, however much we may want it to, and that I will regret later those opportunities that I turned down while I am young and free with less commitments holding me down. I have lots of plans to travel and I really hope that I am able to attend some form of blogger event in the near future which, although waaay out of my comfort zone, will allow me to meet loads of new and like-minded people!

I have become addicted to Marvel: Agents of Shield. I have recently become a TV series junkie, plowing through episode after episode of each series and finishing them within a few days to the point where I have to start rationing myself episodes so that I don't finish them too quickly and get sad. It all started with The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, both of which satisfied my love for horror, before moving on to Game of Thrones and now Marvel: Agents of Shield. I am self a self-confessed superhero and more specifically marvel geek, pretty much being able to quote each film, own posters and even have a collection of marvel socks *hangs head in geeky shame* so finding out that there was more of the marvel universe to sink my teeth into brought me endless amounts of happiness. I highly recommend all of these TV series, but watch at your own risk, addiction is pretty much guaranteed!

I hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of summer, I have lots of exciting blog projects coming up, but always love to go back to reading and writing these personal, informal and relatable little update type posts.

James 

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