Things that make me happy: part 2

A while ago, I wrote a blog post called ‘Things that make me happy’ and I really enjoyed sitting down and thinking about exactly that. But the list I wrote then wasn’t exhaustive and I thought it would be nice to extend that list and write a part 2, because it’s important to think about the things you really enjoy doing yourself and making time to include these in your busy scheduele.

                Cute coffee dates with friends                                         Personal achievements

                                                                     New challenges

                               Travelling                                                                Long days    

                    

Blue and yellow (Prize for anyone that guesses the reason for this correctly down below)

                 Skyping long-distance friends                                Making other people happy

                                                           Late night herbal tea chats              

                              A handwritten letter                                                Scrapbooking

I’m pretty sure there’ll be a follow up to this post at some point, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear what’s on your list.

Keep smiling,

-Kathryn x

New Year's resolutions

December the 31st has found its way back around far too quickly. And what does New Year mean? Resolutions. 

As a general rule, I don't particularly agree with New Years resolutions. Wait, not like that! It's a great idea to try to better yourself and set goals to achieve. It keeps you moving forward and striving for a better version of you. However, I believe that this is something that you can do all of the time - definitely not just on January 1st! 

Nevertheless, I am going to share with you some of my goals and aims for the following twelve months and I'm sure you'll hear of new ones from me through the year too...

Spend more time outdoors

I love being outdoors, I love the sense of freedom, the beauty of nature. But rarely do I make time to enjoy it

Send more messages

I'm the first person to admit that I suck at replying to texts, to messages on Facebook and whatsapp, but I've learnt that's rubbish and it's good to stay in regular contact with people when you're living away 

Do more of what I enjoy

Life's too short; and those small things, they're not really all that small

Stress less

There are things you can't control, so where's the sense in worrying about them? 

Smile more

Because whatever it is that's making me not want to smile is definitely not going to last forever

Hope you all have a happy new year! And I'd love to hear your views in the comments...What are your views on New Year's Resolutions? Have you stuck to any from last year? Have you set any this year? And are any similar to mine? 

Keep smiling,

Kathryn X

Happy Sad Tears

I finished my exams yesterday. The final one was Decision 2 (a maths module) and I'm quite pleased with how it went but we'll have to wait and see what happens on August 13th.

When I walked out of the exam I felt a huge wave of relief rush over me; everything I'd worked so hard for over the past couple of years had finally ended. But only for a few moments before I felt kind of sad and melancholic.

My college is a sixth form at the secondary school I went to so I've spent the best part of seven years with the same people, in the same buildings and with the same teachers. And, over the past 6-12 months especially, the place has become more of a second home to me. Maybe even a first home. And the people, they became a second family. So I think it's only expected that the thought of leaving is a little bit sad. It's the close of the biggest chapter of my life.

I know that it's not really over, because I'm still going back as work experience and because I'll stay in touch with everyone who is important to me but for now I am still a little bit sad and I think that's acceptable.

Keep smiling,
Kathryn x

P.S I'd quite like to know your answers to this: Have any of you ever felt similar to this or had similar experiences?

Escape theory

Everyone has that one place that they take themselves to in their mind when things just aren't going right. I don't mean a bad place where all of the negative things you've ever thought about yourself just keep coming back. What I do mean is that one place where you feel 100% comfortable. The memory you'd go back to in a heartbeat if you could.

It's the place that gives you the hope and strength to keep pushing on, to look forwards and the place that reminds you of everything that you have to fight for. Telling you where my place is isn't going to help you find your own; you have to do that bit for yourself! But being able to have an escape when you need one is so comforting and just what you need when things aren't quite going your way. 

Sometimes I'll spend weeks at a time in this comfortable and happy place and others I won't need it for such a long time. But I know that if I need it, it'll still be there, in my mind and in my heart. Even if you only need a place to escape to for a few seconds to help you carry on there's always somewhere that you can go to that'll make everything okay; the real place might no longer exist but the metaphorical one, the one in your head, that still does. And that's my 'escape theory': that there's always a place for you to go when you need a break from the real world and all of life's problems just for a little while. So where is your escape theory destination? Tell me about it in the comments or just take a moment to think about it.

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

Only human

Something that I know I often do is push myself too hard; I expect myself to do things that I can't or don't have time for then get annoyed at myself when I make a mistake, don't get something done on time or don't get it done perfectly. And I think this may be something that you'll be able to identify with.

As human nature goes, we have a huge tendency to expect too much of ourselves and just be too hard on ourselves. This ends up wearing us out and breaking ourselves down. We agree to things in a desperate effort to please other people but at the end of the day, there's no way that you can ever please EVERYONE. There will always be someone who wanted you to be better, faster, smarter, stronger or more sociable. But you are you and your characteristics make that true! You're flaws, mistakes and the way you deal with them make you unique and perfect and don't let anyone every change them! 

The reason I'm writing this is to say that sometimes you need to accept that saying no to something is okay. If you don't have the relevant skills to do something or the time to do it well (or just need a break) that's okay. If you explain yourself absolutely no one can blame you for taking care of yourself every once in a while. If you're struggling with something it's okay to take a while to consider your options and work out what's best for you; don't feel like something's wrong because you can't figure out what you want right now. And you don't need to be hard on yourself for making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes after all, we're only human! 

Keep smiling, 

Kathryn x 

When it all gets a little bit overwhelming...

For some of us it's that time of year that may be even more stressful than exams; time to apply for university! Now I can hear it, some of you are asking 'how can applying for something be more stressful than getting the grades to get in?' But it really is! 

I'm 17 years old yet suddenly have to be making grown-up decisions about money about accommodation and about where I want to spend the next three or four years of my life. Not only that, I'm expected to make life-changing decisions. And I'm not talking 'I can't decide whether to pick music or art for GCSE' sort of decisions. In no way am I belittling GCSEs but, for anyone worrying about them right now, they're just a little stepping stone. In two years time you won't even remember your results from them. But now I have to pick one course that limits my career options so much. Am I really expected to know what I want to do for the rest of my life? 

And we have to 'sell ourselves' to the university in 4000 characters or less. That may seem like a lot but I don't think I've written a blog post that's shorter than that yet and the personal statement has to include enough information about me to earn myself an offer! 

For the last few weeks, I have been filled with worry and dread. I've been constantly anxious and panicky but I can see that it hasn't been necessary. My UCAS form has gone now; there's absolutely nothing that I can do to change anything so I can eagerly anticipate replies from my chosen universities. 

This experience has helped me to realise that sometimes it's extremely important to just take a minute to step back from the situation, relax and look after yourself. I have felt completely overwhelmed by the idea of choosing five universities but it's important to remember that whatever happens, it happens for a reason. Right now you're exactly where you're supposed to be and you have to trust that in the future you'll end up exactly where you're meant to be too! For the time being, when things get a little bit overwhelming, sit back and enjoy the ride because things won't be like this forever. 

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

What do you want to do in the future?

So this is going to be a different sort of blog post today. I haven't posted for a while and wanted to write but didn't have anything in particular to write about so I decided to just let my pen take control and see where it went. 

Since I've just finished my exams and my first year at college (year 12) and applying for university starts in September, I've been asked a lot about what it is I want to do in the future and I guess it's made me realise that I don't actually know, but that's okay! Sometimes it really is okay to be unsure of things. It just means that you're taking your time to consider things so that you don't rush into something that you don't really want to do.

For a while I've had a couple of options and one of those is to do medicine at university and then become a doctor. I have quite a lot of experience of the life changing things that doctors do and thought it would be absolutely fantastic to be able to help people like that. However, I've done quite a lot of voluntary work in hospitals and realised that often, the reality of the job isn't quite the same as you think. It is still something that I'm considering but I'd have to find a specialism with the minimal amount of paperwork possible as the main reason I'm interested in this is for the patient contact time. Which I guess could seem odd to some people who know me well as I can get quite anxious in social situations but, from my own experience, I'm not too bad in small groups for example when I'm teaching at swimming or in a classroom. So, I'm not by any means doubting the excellent work that medical professionals do. I'm just wondering whether or not the current system is something that I'd be happy working with because I believe that you never really work a day if you're doing something that you enjoy! 

One more thing that I've thought about is a career in teaching. I think it would give me plenty of opportunity to work with different types of people and the work experience I have done in schools has been really fun. I don't think I'd ever be able to teach in a primary school (the children are all way too small) but I quite enjoy maths and think I wouldn't be too much of a bad secondary school maths teacher. Again, because maths is something I enjoy, I think doing a degree in maths then a PGCE would be quite a good career choice for me but I'm not too sure. I may enjoy the degree so much that I choose a different career in maths. I know that by September I really need to have decided what I'm going to do and it may be one of these or I could choose something completely different but for the time being I'm not going to worry too much about it and just enjoy my summer. As long as I end up in a career that I enjoy, it doesn't matter too much to me and its probably what's here right now that I should be focusing on. Whatever happens, happens and you have to trust that you'll make the right decisions as they come along.

So in short, I'm not too bothered about what I do as a career or anything. I just want to have a job where I am happy and I'm in a position where I can make other people happy! But I do want to hear from you. What do you want to do in the future?

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

New starts

So, a blog? Well this is something new for me! A brand new, fun and exciting adventure that I'll hopefully be able to share with all of you. 

It's important to try new things every once in a while and that is something I know all too well. However, I'm usually a person who struggles to embrace and new starts, thinking too much over things that have been and gone which I have no control over. In fact, for various reasons, I've kind of become more of a creature of habit which is something that I see as one of my biggest weaknesses. Thinking about this made me wonder how I can challenge myself to try new things, hopefully without worrying or panicking too much, and still have fun (because I appreciate that some new things genuinely are certifying and far from fun). So imaginekathryn was born...

I've always loved writing but never the sort where you are told what too write and when to write it. (1000 word essay on themes in An Inspector Calls anyone?) I decided that starting this blog will help me to continue this enjoyment with the freedom of choice; I can include absolutely whatever I like!

Last Wednesday I had my final AS level exam and though this would be a brilliant time to start - with the whole summer ahead of me. Over the next few weeks I have quite a lot of exciting things going on and I hope that you guys don't mind me sharing them with you! And more than anything I'd just like this to be a positive place to help make your lives happier at the dullest and darkest of times (as well as all of the happy ones!)

Keep smiling,

Kathryn