It has been 10 days since my last post. A longer period than I would usually go without posting another eclectic blog instalment. These past few days have made me pause, and think about what I take for granted. As you might guess, this post may a little more personal than usual (whatever usual may be). But I think a transparent blog should not only celebrate the good, but the bad and the downright ugly in equal measure.
This will not be a rant reeling off complaints about how terrible my first world white girl problems are (which all have happy endings *spoilers*). Instead, this is more a contemplation of three specific areas of my life that I have changed perspective on and how you, as a reader, might consider them too.
- Love thy neighbour, but lock your backdoor
My student house was broken into and technically robbed.*
*If robbery counts as all the items being found by police on the drive with the net gain of a bicycle.
Not a tragedy at all, and incomparable to proper burglar victims. I had only been in the house during the day and had driven home by evening. My housemates were understandably spooked and confounded by the series of events (if you have any ideas please air them to me!! Creative writing inspo?). But it made me reconsider my entire presence around the area that day. Had they been watching? Where had they been looking out from? Would things have been different if I had changed my plans? Of course, this is self-centred. Student houses are easier targets for theft. It is harder to keep a track of people coming and going. To anyone in this position, click here for a nifty list of simple tips to avoid anything happening to you.
- Take advantage of good health
This bullet point is at most risk of sound patronising to those who actually suffer from something serious. To those people, I can only take my hat off to you. I had less than two weeks of essentially (wo)man flu: dry eye syndrome playing up, jaw ache, headaches, nausea and a cold. Absolutely nothing consequential in the grand scheme of things. Nothing chronic (except perhaps the dry eyes!). But I crumbled.
As soon as I get over this silly blip of wellness, I am going to take full advantage of sunlight, breathing and exceeding the radius of 10 metres from a tissue. My eyes have been opened as to how lucky I am not to have any serious health struggles right now. That could all change in a heartbeat so why waste good health? Make yourself stronger to be your best self to cope when things do go pear shaped. Take that hike you’ve been meaning to go on, try a new sport, break the cycle of not doing that morning gym session you promised yourself the night before. Exercising will give you that release of endorphines. It may not change your life, but big things start with small changes, right?
- Make that call
I won’t go into details on this one. A few days ago I almost lost someone very important. I was so sure April would hold a funeral no one was really ready for. Seeing how quickly things can change reiterates my second point: make the most of the good times because they will sweeten the bad. Call that friend you haven’t heard from for a while, visit your family, check in on your closest. Carpe diem and all the fridge magnet philosophy.
However with that in mind, learn to except the bad. When I first heard the news, I bitterly tried to hold it all in until I was alone. Fortunately, I failed miserably and had the best moral support through it all. Talking therapy has always worked for me. Letting out my fears extinguishes them to an extent. Hearing someone else’s experiences with a similar situation can invaluable and reassuring. Even so, I did take some time to be alone for a little while. Of course, how a person takes bad news is highly individualistic and only they know how to handle it best. My only suggestion would be to not be afraid to reach out. I did, and it helped enormously. Accepting the bad news and letting myself be sad made me much stronger. Incredibly fortunately, the critical situation became uncritical, and I now have the opportunity to do all the things I regretted not doing.
In conclusion, be secure, carpe diem, you don’t have be perfect 100% of the time. I won’t waffle on at risk of sounding too sickening. But essentially, here is my #nomakeup blog. I do hope you didn’t cringe too much.
Adventures of Captain Hetty 