LIFE CHOICES

 I wanted to write a slightly different post for you today to a product review or favourites as I know a lot of people out there are gearing up for exams and may be feeling apprehensive about what lies ahead after this chapter of your life.

Firstly, don't panic! Whatever choice you make, if you then change your mind, that's okay! I think that there is an awful lot of unnecessary extra pressure piled onto people these days, constant questions about what career you want to have or what path you should or shouldn't take. Rather than being helpful, it can all become a bit too much baggage to handle and it certainly won't help you to think about what decision YOU want to make. I stress this because the most important thing is that whatever decision you do make, it is your own decision. Regardless of other people's opinion, you do what you gotta do!

The inspiration for this post came about when I was talking to one of my best friends about our schools days and where we imagined we would be at this age. Now I finished school a rather scary 11 years ago (how is that even possible!) and I then stayed on for two years to complete my As and A level exams. School was a mixed bag for me, I had good friends, boyfriends, bullies, teenage acne and I was yet to find out what kind of person I was growing into. I wasn't an academic genius by any stretch but I worked hard and came out with GCSE results I was happy with. However I didn't feel ready to finish my schooling. I didn't feel old enough to be thrust into the real world and A levels for me were a natural progression to up my knowledge and bulk up my CV content. But I'll be honest, I hated my first year. I went from being Head Girl in year 11 and having so much involvement in the school, organising the prom and beginning to build new confidence to then be classed as a sixth former. Plummeted down the ranks, cast aside on the outskirts of the school and having to learn more independently. But I survived those changes and eventually settled into balancing full time sixth and three part time jobs. Lessons were structured towards university being the next step for everyone to take. There was a time where I considered university quite seriously. I wanted to study journalism and media and become a journalist covering motorbike racing (side note: I'm a huge motorbike racing fan!) But every time the word 'UCAS' was mentioned, something didn't feel right. I just couldn't imagine myself going to uni. So I decided to explore another route of passion and I enrolled at college to train as a beauty therapist. I'm a big ball of juxtapositions aren't I! But I have always adored beauty products. I was the 16 years old who who spent her Saturday job money on buying Decleor.  I remember excitedly telling my teacher that I had decided not to go to university and that I had chosen to go to college to study beauty. Her reply was "Oh, why would you want to do? Surely you'd rather go to univeristy than do that?" Her face and her tone was full of disappointment. As though training as a therapist was the lowest of low ideas. I found her reaction really hard to process and to be quite honest, it pissed me off! How dare she stick her nose up at what I wanted to do. Aren't teachers supposed to support their students?

As I watched all my friends make the 'correct' decision and leave the family nest for uni life, I stayed living at home and begin learning a trade. I thought I'd take a year and complete my NVQ level 2 and then perhaps reconsider going to uni, but I loved what I was learning. I enjoyed doing treatments and absorbing knowledge about the skin, the body and nutrition. After two years I qualified as a therapist. I worked for Clarins on a beauty counter, I traveled regularly to London to various training academy's, I was awarded an accolade following a week long of intensive product knowledge digesting. I worked as a Senior therapist in an Aveda spa and trained others in treatments, I learned about how to run a business, how to market and advertise, how to gain the trust of complete strangers and build relationships. I learnt how to be a counsellor to clients, how to adapt to differing personalities and how to put my game face on when my personal life got tough but Mrs X was dealing with the much more serious issue of which pink nail polish she was going to choose. *In my head- "They both look the same just SODDING CHOOSE ONE!!* In reality- "I know there so different aren't they, I really feel for you it's a hard decision." And breath.....

At 21 years old, I bought my first home. A small but comforting one bedroom flat that I sit in today 6 years on and write this post feeling proud of what I have achieved so far. I now work within beauty retail and although I don't work as a hands on therapist, I get use on beauty knowledge every day and now I am expanding it by creating this blog. I love my job and I know now that uni wouldn't have been the right thing for me. I didn't know that then and I constantly questioned whether I'd done the right thing. But I went with what I enjoyed and what I felt was right.

This post is not to deter those who want to go to university. If you feel it's the right thing for you then go!  Embrace everything it will hold for you and have the best time you possibly can. This post is merely to share my experience and say do what is right for you. Don't let anyone make you feel like your decisions aren't adequate enough. And don't panic if you don't know all the answers right here right now. Believe me, no one does! I have no idea what the next phase holds for me or where I'm going. Do what makes you happy, because if it makes you happy, you'll work ten times harder at it than if your halfheartedly going at it.

So whether your coming up to exams and your driving yourself crazy thinking about the next step, or your at a cross roads in your life right now, remember- life is too short to spend it doing things you don't want to do. What makes you happy? What motivates you? What are you passionate about? Where do you picture yourself being? Create the dream you want, not the dream someone else has for you.

Good luck dear reader.

Until next time, Steph :)




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