5 Things That Got Me Through January

The 25^th marks not only Burns’ Night (I shall belatedly raise a glass of whiskey with friends this weekend) but also that exactly one month has passed since Christmas. Wow. How did that happen?

As January comes to a close next week, it’s a fitting time for reflection on the past month. In truth, I don’t think the clichéd language we apply to the beginning of the year – January Blues, Blue Monday, etc – is necessarily helpful. It can often seem daunting and I wish there was a drive for more positive connotations for what is often a challenging month.

No, I am not suggesting we shrug off the difficulties the month brings and laud it as ‘Happy January’ (an alternative phrase for the 31^st December, perhaps) but it is hard to feel optimistic about a month when it is so often associated with unhappiness.

January is a difficult month. Lack of daylight, bitterly cold, early mornings and persistent guilt that you haven’t quite realised your ‘New Year, new me’ self, not to mention a financial hangover from the gluttonous spoils and excess of Christmas are all contributing factors. But – breathe – the month is almost over. You made it.

Feeling low, and that I’d ‘wasted’ the month, I sat down to write a list of all the things that have made January great so far. On reflection, seeing memories I had made or seemingly inconsequential things that had made me smile on paper offered some perspective. I have laughed a lot this month, more than I realised, something that can quite often be overshadowed with the enormity of the ‘bigger picture’ of a daunting month.

Let’s focus on the positives as the month comes to an end. Make a list and celebrate your personal triumphs, no matter how insignificant they may seem. If something put a smile on your face I’d say that’s a win.

Here are the five things that have got me through January. What are yours?

Conversations with friends
Nothing beats the surprise of hearing your phone buzzing, glancing down, expecting to see an incoming sales call, but instead being greeted by your friend’s ugliest Snapchat to date (which you promised you wouldn’t screenshot and set as their contact photo) and spending the next hour having a spontaneous catch-up. So much of our communication now is done behind a screen and there’s something charming about picking up the phone and asking someone close what’s going on with their life.

Throwback playlists
Perusing my Spotify account recently, the sheer volume of playlists left untouched since my undergraduate days intrigued me – as did their names: Power Hour/GraduOcean Pres/Cocktail Night Partayyy, to name but a few. They provided the soundtrack to that day, an eclectic mix of tropical house, 00s indie and unapologetically cheesy hits. Revisiting old playlists was a welcome dose of nostalgia and may have prompted me to book a ticket back to the city I called home for three years for a reUNIon…


Wearing a silly hat for the day

I couldn’t possibly post the five things that made me smile in January and not include the delightful weekend of my MA graduation. It was a wonderful day to celebrate (with lots of fizz and food, of course) the achievement that some of my closest friends and I have worked so hard towards.

Colouring
I was apprehensive. Spending half an hour reverting to my childhood and scribbling on a page was not at the top of my to-do list. I will eat my words and say I was wrong (my boyfriend will attest that is not a phrase I use often). I have been pleasantly surprised by the therapeutic calmness that comes from spending time focused on something creative in the name of self-care.

Solo missions

One lazy day, I was sat about to hit the ‘yes’ button when Netflix asked if I was still there. Uncharacteristically, I shut down my laptop and set off to enjoy a solo day of culture. I started off with Somerset House’s ‘North: Fashioning Identity’ exhibition, followed by a brisk walk along the South Bank to explore the Tate Modern and National Theatre. There’s something wonderfully liberating about a spontaneous day exploring alone, and it’s something I’ll definitely endeavor to do more of in 2018. 

Do let me know what has put a smile on your face so far this year!

NG <3

Twitter . Instagram . Bloglovin'

Post Uni Blues

It's been a year since I graduated now. A whole year! That's a scary thought. But with this daunting reflection also comes pride when I see my friends graduating this year donning their mortarboards and robes as I scroll through my timeline. Never was the Facebook 'Love' reaction more applicable.

A few months after graduating I hit a wall and suddenly the question of what I wanted to do with my life kept me up at night. I'd always wanted to be a journalist but then came another worrying thought: how on earth would I find my way into the industry? That's the problem with negativity, one worry snowballs into another. Around that time I was feeling ever more nostalgic for my student days and I published this article on my Wordpress site.

I thought now would be a fitting time to reshare it. The moral of the story? Everything will be ok. It just takes a little time and perseverance to enter the big, scary adult world. I don't know a single person who fell straight from final year into their dream job. Sometimes taking time out to think and revaluate is invaluable. So many of my friends who graduated at the same time as me are now starting to settle into their careers and I couldn't be prouder or more excited for them. As for me? A year out has given me clarity and focus, and the determination to pursue journalism.

Originally Published September 2015:

Ahhhhhh. That’s the long drawn-out sigh of me coming to the realisation that now September is coming to a close a new set of freshers are currently embarking on the wonderful rollercoaster that is starting university life.
 
It has now been 3 years since I also made this transition from the mollycoddled security of sixth form and my parents’ home to become a newly independent, little fresher (and I use that term literally, for me Freshers’ 14 was unfortunately no myth). This September, however, for the first time I am not returning to formal education as the perpetual student status I held for 17 years will officially be redundant.

Quite frankly, it’s terrifying. No schedule. No one instructing you on what to do and when it needs to be done by. I always moaned about returning to school as a child but I secretly relished in it: the promise of a fresh start, the intellectual progression of moving up a year, and most importantly the trip to WHSmiths to buy that shiny, new pencil case. Essentially, September has always been more of my ‘new year’ than January ever has.

The preparation for the sudden halt to the conveyor belt of education has been slowly introduced over the years. First it started with free periods in sixth form. Expectation: Heading up to the library and spending an afternoon being oh-so-studious. Reality: Lounging in the common room playing Shithead (a card game) and hiking up the road to Macdonalds. Then came the uni days. Spending a mere 12 hours on campus was certainly a welcome shock.

Luckily I do still have an outlet to pretend I’m a student. This weekend I got to go back to my uni town and spend time with my friends who are still studying. It was then that I realised it is the student lifestyle I miss the most. I miss the “it’s ok, I’m a student” approach to life. Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to live off instant noodles, order another round (or five) of sambucas or spend all day in bed as a student. As an adult not so much. Unfortunately there is no student loan payment coming every 4 months once you enter the big, bad world.

I even miss the library. Yes, the library. Something I never thought I’d feel, let alone admit. Those times were dark: the all-nighters, the overpriced cappucinos, the many breakdowns when my laptop died and I forgot to hit save. But some laughs were had there also, especially when procrastination was the goal. I suppose it’s like a break up; you hone in on the positives. A big chesire cat smile comes across my face when I recall the nights that ended in the best way, eating questionably cheap pizza while having a heart to heart with my nearest and dearest. Yet I don’t quite seem to reminisce how awful I felt the following day. I look back with affection at my last student house, somehow forgetting the occasional slug infestation and icy atmosphere on a winter morning.


I heard a quote recently that struck a chord: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”. What a brilliant way to view life. University was undoubtedly the best time of my life so far, but it was only one chapter and there are many more to come. I will always have the memories to look back on but now it’s time to create some new ones.

So a word to the wise for this year’s freshers: enjoy it. Every last minute of it because it really will be the best 3 years of your life and it will be gone before you know it.

NG <3

Bloglovin' . Twitter . Instagram

Photo Credit: John Walker via Flickr.