Craving Something New

During my main GCSE mock exam week I was slightly restricted from leaving my house as the need to revise lingered. But the craving to see something new loitered.

Every day the sky provided me with something new, something beautiful. I captured a few of the days and thought you may like to see.

 

One Last Goodbye To 2015

 

 

started 2015 with friends | spent hours wheeling around a cart full of leaflets to deliver to post boxes as my ‘first’ job | spent hours chatting with old neighbour | cut a load off of my hair | stayed up to late hours talking about anything in my history dorm with friends | had the opportunity to visit the WW1 battlefields | went skiing | walked down a beach at night | had a late night adventure to an old train station | last sports day | dressed up as a sixth former for a day | slept in a tent with friends for a night | took so many tubes around London with a friend | ventured out to a yacht harbour at night | spent an afternoon walking around somewhere I had never been | made a visit to somewhere in my town that I had never been before | spent a whole day with friends watching films non-stop | walked along the beach in our pyjamas at night | took a friend sailing for their first time | every day for a week went somewhere new | saw the sun set too many times to count | picked up my GCSE results | visited a completely new town | found my inner eight year-old self with a friend | had a picnic in a wood with friends | strolled all the way around London with friends | miraculously won bowling once | started the new school year | had a geography trip to Wales | discovered a beautiful place | walked and camped for three days | spent a day in London for Mum’s birthday | dressed up for Halloween from clueless with a friend & spent a night sleeping in a living room | received hand-made bunting from a close friend which I still can’t express how grateful and appreciative I am for | spent many Sunday afternoon’s at my aunties cuddled up on the sofa under a blanket | performed in my school’s panto | danced a lot | went ice skating for the first time | spent the Christmas period with my family | met my cousin’s baby | ended 2015 with friends

Even though it’s been over a week into 2016 I just wanted to look back at 2015 one last time. Above are a few photos and a collection of phrases and words that reflect a lot of my past year. I'm incredibly grateful for all I experienced and received in 2015. Bring on 2016.  

I hope you have had a good week and next week is an even better one. Thank you for reading this.

Happy New Year

Last year I wrote a post during the New Year period about my resolutions. The way I wrote and what I wrote is not from the same person sitting here typing these words. I’ve grown and changed so significantly in the last year. Honestly I don’t think we ever stop growing and I don’t want to stop.

The person who wrote that post a year ago was me but the person sitting here now, the ‘now’ me, no longer craves a plan for the New Year. Now I seek to take each day as a new opportunity, a new chance, to discover, to travel, to make new mistakes, to learn from these mistakes and to grow. And I’ve come to realise its ok to not have a plan.

Saying this though I am one who yearns to write a ‘to do’ list or any list in fact for I have found stability in planning in the past. But in the last year things that I haven’t planned or known to have desired have been some of the best things to have occurred in my life.

So from now onwards I want to solely embrace every single day as much as I can. Happy New Year!

Seizing Opportunities

School commenced in September and I had no conscious decision to accept opportunities, which were whispered in my ear. When something used to arise at school I would always be one to brush it away with an excuse of ‘that’s not me’ or ‘I don’t have the time to do that’. A lot of my life when I joined secondary school strived for academic achievement and success. I felt I had to achieve greatness in the form of letters and numbers after exam papers and essays. In the last two to three years I’ve understood that life needs to be lived in numerous forms to attain success. But honestly I feel I’ve only truly and completely implemented that belief in my actual life in the last year or possibly the last six months.

In the last few months I’ve taken the extra step and said yes to opportunities that have been flickered in front of my eyes. They’ve included me standing on a stage in front of a bunch of strangers and volunteering to speak out. I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and it has filled my life with more enjoyment. If you had asked me four months ago if I would be doing what I have done in the last two or three months I would have laughed and walked away.

It can be very easy to say no to an opportunity and leave it outside the door. Unfortunately I’ve done that numerous times. Yet again some opportunities cannot facilitate everyone’s interest or be available during our free time. But if an opportunity offers something of interest to you and you have the chance to say yes, do it. It’s incredibly important to embrace life and ensure you balance your work life with your non-work life.

Merry Christmas.

Mumbles

I find myself writing but not writing what I want to write.

I write because I enjoy it.

As I have control over my keyboard, I have control over what letters are used to create words. Then sentences. These sentences portray my thoughts, feelings and my side to something.

I love reading writing. It can cause numerous emotions to be formed from the reader and so influences someone. To me that’s something truly special. People’s accounts of anything from events to emotions should be shared. They can be shared through the use of words. And those words can be written to be easily repeated to many anywhere.

Writing, especially fiction, can transport someone to a new place and show a different perspective to an experience or event.

I shall be patient and wait for 'the' writing to come.

The Beach In The Rain

It was a wet and cloudy day, in my eyes, a pretty good day to go down to the beach. I’m aware that sounds odd but it always means it will mostly just be you and the beach with a few people passing.

Up my sleeves, my hands hid from the cold, harsh wind that whipped my hair across my face. I wish I had brought a scarf to cover my neck. The beach huts dotted the land with colour and the sea galloped in and out.

I hope you have had a good week and next week will be even better.

A Child Or An Adult

Sixteen always sounded so grown up when I was younger. And now I’m here, I do actually feel different. However I don’t feel grown up or young. I feel in between. I’ve lost the desire to play with dolls and have tea parties with my teddy bears. I no longer need my mum’s help to tie my hair up or dress me.

I now have my own key to our house, am able to walk around by myself and am presented with the decision to make my mind up for what I want to do. But do adults ever actually have that one thing they want to do forever. Don’t they still own that desire to experience new things and find new parts to life just like when a child wanders off from their parent in the park and comes across the swings.

For years I’ve wanted to become things, different things. Does that even go away?

Part of me wants to remain growing and changing throughout my life. Alternatively though the idea of wanting to do the same thing forever is attractive. But is that reality? Don't people find themselves changing what they want to do in life as they change themselves due to experiences and where they've gotten in life.

If you any views and thoughts on the topic of the future and career choices etc please comment below. I'm really interested in what you have to say.

Pray For Paris

I don’t know much. But I know this

Treat everyone as you would want to be treated

Love the people around you every day

You never know when they may go

Today they announced that 180 people have been injured and at least 129 people were killed in Paris after the attacks from last night. What happened in Paris is truly devastating and wrong.

Unfortunately many innocent people are dying and being affected by cruelty all around the world all the time. Humanity has the capacity for cruelty but so much ability for kindness too.

My thoughts especially go out to witnesses, victims and families who were affected by the attacks in Paris.

A Letter To My Seventeen Year-Old Self

Dear seventeen year-old me,

I hope you have taken every opportunity to see the world even if it's just a trip down the road. And please tell me you are keeping up with trying new foods even if they smell terrible and remind you of primary school meals. Just maybe you have finally gone swimming in the English sea. When I say swimming, I mean shoulders under water. If you still haven't when you next read this, go and do it.

Also I hope you haven't lost your love for fairy-lights. I seriously believe the world would be a prettier place if it was covered in them.

I hope you haven't lost your excitement. That feeling that makes you smile and bounce. Never lose that. And don't let one person stop you from asking anyone if they are okay.

In addition I hope you still have an extensive list of things you want to do. As well as have completed a number of them and are constantly adding to the list. I hope you still want to drive across Canada, visit a proper American diner and add a letter to Juliet's wall in Italy. But most importantly seize every opportunity to make people happy.

Love, your sixteen year-old self

PS: Honestly I haven't looked back at my post that I wrote about a  year ago, A Letter To My Sixteen Year Old Self . The way I wrote then and who I was has changed so significantly. I'm not sure how to word this but I feel unconsciously the way I write here is so much more comfortable and open than it was before.

PPSS: Sorry for using the word 'hope' far too much in this post.

An Autumn Day

My mum and I spent a day in London as it was her birthday.

The ground was covered by blankets of leaves. Our feet stepped through browns and oranges.

People ambled down the paths with warm drinks in hand. The smell of pumpkin spice and cinnamon wafted in the air from a drink stand.

 As I've gotten older, the less time my mum and I have had available for us to spend together so it was really nice. Thank you and Happy Birthday again Mum.