So I know this is a random time of night to write a blog post, but it has been one heck of a day!

I think this might be the biggest news I've ever been able to share... Jared and I have just bought our first house together!

I'm so proud of our achievement and that we managed it all by ourselves. It's taken a lot of saving and dedication but it was worth it in the end!

We first found out about the house back in March and went to view it in April, so it's been over six months from the first steps to getting the keys. It's been a long and a difficult road that at times has seemed impossible.

I'll write details in further posts but for now I just wanted to share our exciting news!

Buying a home has been top of my goals for a long time and I can't believe that we have actually done it.

Right now life is a bit hectic and we are frantically sorting things out, so I'll keep this post short and sweet.

Once things are more settled I'll share more info, but for now I've got packing to do!

Holding down a job and a degree at the same time

Having a job is tough. Going to uni is tough. Doing both at the same time? Pretty damn difficult even for an organised person with their shit together. Somehow I seem to fool people into thinking I am such a person but in reality I'm really not. I am just muddling through trying desperately not to forget any of the things I am meant to be doing.

Right now my life is just revision. And it sucks. Everyone knows this but it doesn't make it any easier. The next two weeks are my final exams of third year and they're also my final exams at uni. Not because I am graduating but because I refused to take any modules next year with an end of semester exam. Got my priorities right for once.

I'm going to be honest, there's been a fair bit of procrastinating but every activity is tainted by guilt because I should be working. But what happens when like me you also have a job to stress about? You go totally insane that what. In fact you decide to write a blog post about it because you have so much stuff to do that anything seems more appealing. Life is hard. But ignoring your problems makes it easier right?

Working while studying deserves more respect then it gets, I'm trying hard to do two different things at once without compromising on performance for either. Its not easy. Today I'm shattered from a late shift last night and trying to revise. I would really love to have a bath and crawl into bed but I can't because I have an exam on Monday.

It's been a gorgeous sunny day and I've been stuck indoors with my computer trying to focus. Its not going well. People tell me if its too much then I should quit my job. But unfortunately for me I cannot have one without the other. I need the job in order to afford to stay at uni and I need the degree in order to one day move on from my current job to another one.

I hope that one day an employer will look at my CV and be impressed I managed to do both at once. Its not easy and means I often have to compromise on my social life. But I like to think I am just working on my life skills. Once we leave the cosy student life we all have to start making these sacrifices and managing our time even more carefully. Hopefully this will stand me in good stead for when I am become a 'proper adult'.

Also everytime I set foot inside the office I am gaining real work experience. Not just a week spent filing and making tea but actually doing the work instead of watching. I've had training, gained skills and been given responsibility. And I'm being paid for it.

I've spent a fair bit of time watching my friends all scramble for internships. Having done over 3 months of unpaid work experience all I can think is they are essentially all competing to be unpaid labour. Compare that to my year of true work experience and consider that I get rewarded for my time and effort. Now I've experienced both I know which one I prefer. Working for nothing gets old very quickly.

Even if it just means I am not dirt poor while I am at uni that surely must be a good thing. Its hard to focus when you are constantly worrying about where you are going to find the money for next months rent or lying awake at night thinking about how close you are to your overdraft limit. Not to brag but I don't even have an overdraft. I've actually got a savings account (although its to pay for uni next year). Check me out, fully fledged adult over here.

There are days like this one when I think I must be properly mad to contemplate being able to do both. But I've managed it for over a year and I like having the security of a regular income. I no longer get that fear when its the end of the term and my student loan has nearly ran out. I also actually like my job and there is satisfaction to be gained from a successful shift. So I just gotta knuckle down and work my way through the next few weeks. Got to hustle if you want results.

And as an added bonus my exams finish pretty close to pay day...Guess I'll be winning then.

Picture credit

Hey its ok to cut yourself some slack

The whole reason I write this blog is because I feel its a place I can be honest about how I feel, even if its a small drama getting me down. Like most people I can struggle with my self confidence on occasion. Ive written about it on this blog before and if I'm honest its an ongoing problem.
It feels like it strikes out of nowhere, one moment I'm this cool, sassy, fierce girl whos got her shit together and the next I'm curled up in bed bawling my eyes out about how the world and their mother hate me.

With hindsight I can usually see a negative cycle of behavior that warns of an impending meltdown but this time was different. If you take a look at the previous posts on this that I've linked above you can see its been a while since this has bothered me and I was starting to think I was making real progress with how I see myself.

One tiny little thing bothered and suddenly I was upset beyond any reason. I know we all get days like this, where you feel on the verge of tears about nothing. And if I'm honest it probably was one of 'those days' combined with hormones. But even so I don't normally let it get this out of hand.

This happened last week and its taken me a while to decide what I wanted to write about with it. I think what I learnt from this particular time was that actually its ok to get upset about things. Normally everything looks better after you sleep on it, but this time when I woke up I found I was still beating myself up about it. I got up early and sat by myself with a cup of tea for a bit. I allowed myself to cry and feel all the emotions that go with one of these low moments. I decided to cut myself some slack for not being perfect and I immediately felt better. After an hour or so I had pulled myself back together.

We're only human and we our emotions are not always rational but that's ok. The world would be pretty boring if we all acted in a perfectly predictable way. Everyone has moments of self doubt so we are not alone in how we feel. I'm writing this post to say that I am ok with having the odd moment where I act like a crazy person because I know that everytime I overcome one of these moments I am making more and more progress. All we can ever aim for is to improve.

Making decisions is hard

First off, apologies for not being so good with making posts. I've had a busy week with working and stuff and y'know life just got in the way.

I wanted to write this post because I've been feeling really on edge and stressed all day. I've been on the verge of tears a fair bit too and that's not my normal happy state. Its taken me most of the day to work out why I'm upset and I think thats because I'm feeling very conflicted lately.

I've written about this quite a bit on this blog before but its clearly still bothering me so I am going to to write about it again.

Without boasting, in general I think my life is great. For me personally I feel like I have pretty much everything I want. Now this might not measure up to other peoples standards but I'm not going to get into that in this post. The important thing is its my life and I am happy with it.

Oddly though I think that might be the cause of why I was feeling upset. Before you judge me and think WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT BEING HAPPY let me explain.

In general I would say its the people in my life who bring me the most happiness and the experiences I have shared with them are memories that I treasure. I am incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful people around me. But choosing who to spend time with and trying to justify my priorities to everyone can leave me feeling exhausted.

I know I should just do what I want. But life is not that simple. I have responsibilities such as work and uni that restrict what free time I have and a large amount of people to divide that limited time between.

Put simply I am fed up with having to choose. I am tired of having to sacrifice time spent with everyone and trying to calculate in my head who I should be prioritizing at the moment. Sometimes I have to make difficult decisions and I then spent a huge amount of time worrying I made the wrong one. Whatever I decide I inevitably end up upsetting somebody. But most of all I upset myself because I simply cannot please everyone.

Sometimes it feels like I am so busy trying to do what everyone else wants there isn't much time left for things I want to do. Perhaps I need to be firmer but I find it hard saying no to people I care about.

So yeah. This was a bit of a rambly post but I feel better for having written it down. I'm sure I can't be the only person who this affects so I would love to hear if anyone has any advice on how they cope with it.

Picture from Pinterest

My Self Confidence Lapse

If in doubt, wear red

Back at the beginning of the month I wrote about the self confidence crisis I have been in the grip of for the past year or so without realising. It had been slowly getting worse and over the past 6 weeks or so I've been making an effort to put myself back together.

I've been making more effort with my appearance and this helps me feel braver as I know I look good on the outside even when I feel small on the inside.

This time last week I had a bit of a lapse. I spent the day in bed crying and starting the same negative cycle of being horrible to myself.
I felt I was disgusting, ugly, worthless and why the hell would anyone want to be friends with me? I wasted a whole precious day lying in bed, listening to Taylor Swift and crying. All because I didn't have enough faith in myself to accept that the people around me love me and want to be with me.

Looking back now I feel stupid and I can see that the person with the problem is me. I need to work on the way I perceive myself and to give less of a shit about what other people think about me.

I need to follow my own advice. I am always the first to encourage other people to do what they want and not let fear of others judging hold them back. When it comes to myself however I worry endlessly. It is such a pointless waste of my energy. My Mum said to me the other day I will end up with 'Worried too much about what others thought' on my gravestone. It scared me because its true. I am allowing it to take over my life and its starting to define who I as a person.

But I see that this small hiccup is an essential part of my recovery. There are going to be good and bad days and they have to be embraced equally. Without the darker days I would not appreciate the amazing ones and recognize that even in this short time period I have made some progress.

I've also come up with a plan to put into action for when particular scenarios get me down and this has helped me to relax and stop stressing.

All in all I think I am doing well. I am proud of myself. That was hard to write, but the fact I was able to shows I have made progress.

How to cope when you are just annoyed for no reason

We all the know the feeling, its like PMS but you're not close enough to your next period to cash in this excuse. Everyone is annoying you. If one more person says something you fear you might actually punch someone in the face. The truth is nobody is doing anything wrong and you are on a short fuse because you are in a bad mood. Its that simple.

I'm not the only person who gets like this right? You know thats its all in your head but you just keep getting more and more frustrated. You know that there is no reason you are annoyed, its just you having a bad day.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. I was so annoyed with everything I couldn't even bring myself to write this post on the actual day. The things that conspired to annoy me yesterday included:

- The olive oil on top of the fridge falling off and spilling everywhere when I slammed the fridge door 2 minutes before I had to leave.
- Dropping my pill just before I took it and having to scramble around looking for it at the bus stop.
- Being unable to find my keys as they were hiding in the depths of my bag so I had to practically upend it to locate them.
- My tights having a ladder in them and they are my last semi decent pair.
- It was raining.

Woe is me right? Getting irritated about things is fine once in a while, hey I'm only human. But if I'm being mean to the people I care about just because I got up on the wrong side of the bed then I need to get myself back in a sunny mood. As a fairly temperamental person (who has recently had to change pills because of the horrific mood swings it gave me) I have developed some tried and tested techniques.

1. Alone time. Just spent a little bit of time on your own and compose yourself. Yesterday I went and laid on my bed in a T-shirt and pants and did nothing for 10 minutes. I felt instantly calmer. Just being by yourself allows you to calm down, breathe and remember you are getting annoyed about nothing.

2. Get your comfiest PJs on and a cup of tea. Just sit in bed and play some calming music. Do it properly and put on some fluffy socks with a big jumper. If you happen to have some Hagen Daz then it is time to break it out.

3. Put down your phone. Stop looking at facebook or instagram because social media involves people and that is a sure fire way to get yourself all pissed off again. You do not need to see that annoying girl from school got engaged or that your relation is off on some amazing holiday. Save that for when you are human again or you might end up smashing your precious phone.

4. If you feel like the irritation is about to explode out of you then write it down. I keep a diary and it really helps. I worry that one day my Great-Grandchildren might find it and think I'm a really angry cow as I only tend to reach for it when I'm feeling upset about something. On good days I am too busy living life to write it down. But if it helps then do it. Then hide it somewhere good. Nobody needs to know the horrid thoughts that go through your mind during one of these days.

5. Watch Harry Potter. We are the HP generation and there is something so soothing about losing yourself in Harry's troubles. Once you remember that you aren't tasked with killing Voldemort your minor dramas don't really matter anymore.

6. Once you are feeling better, arrange to see your friends. I always feel low after I've calmed down and spending time with other people really helps shift that uneasy feeling that I've wasted my day. I spent the evening with my mapping buddies and we made lasagne. Totally cheered me up even though I didn't feel like going at first, but I'm glad I did.