First Year of University

If there is anything I've realised since completing my first year at university, it is that adults are as lost and as confused about the world as I am. Legally I am considered an adult - especially now that I have and actually use a Tesco Clubcard, marvellous - but in my mind I am still simply a young person attempting to work out what it is I want to accomplish in life.
And yet, adults are figuring out their place in the world just as much as I am.

University places you in a small, social bubble; giving you hints of the real world in a safe and protected environment. Throughout my life so far I have always viewed adulthood as a platform, as a goal that I had to be a certain age and with certain accomplishments to reach. I viewed my parents as impossible beings that I could never be like, placing them on a pedestal so much higher than my own.

In reality, after all those years of experience and simply living, they are still learning and making mistakes just as much as the next person. There will never be that perfect age or that ideal moment where you can say you've achieved it all. I believe we are fed the notion that once we have the ideal 'things' in life that make the world tick on, that we will be happy. Whether it is consumerism or simply human nature - I don't know. But what I do know, and have increasingly come to realise, is that there's no set point to reach to be happy and content. The word 'content' is a controversial one. Whilst the pessimist in me could view it as a word slightly lacking, to 'accept something as adequate despite wanting more or better', the English student in me prefers it as the satisfaction of being 'in a state of peaceful happiness'.

This past year for me has been about making mistakes, forging new friendships, meeting people from all walks of life and generally learning to cope (somewhat) on my own. I have a very vague idea of what I want to do after university, but nothing is certain. Who knows where I will be in ten years time, what I'll be doing or who I'll be surrounded by - and it's about realising that that's okay. It really is okay.

by Emily