Wednesday 27 January 2016

All Things New

Starting a new ‘chapter’ in your life takes many considerations, these considerations are the questions we ask ourselves deep down in our minds. In reality am I ready for a big change? Do I like change and will I become accustomed to it? Can I afford to live? Will I enjoy myself? What will I get from it? What will I gain from it? Will I succeed?
These are the questions I asked myself before I started my new chapter when moving to Manchester for university, honestly? I am second term in and I’m still asking myself the same questions.
Change can be handled in many ways, those who come from a bustling city and move away to other bustling cities are used to the strange sights, smells and jam packed pavements that come along with it. Those, like myself, that come from small towns where everyone knows each others business and life stories are not entirely comforted to the strange sights, smells and jam packed pavements.
Speaking on a personal level of my own experience, the first term has been a tough one to handle and if I may admit the second term, so far, has not been any easier. I am not one to depend on parents to do everything and anything for me, I know how to cook and clean and have been ever so sensible with keeping my spending’s as low as possible. But, the struggles that I myself have faced, and that many others may too, is adapting to surroundings that I/we are not familiar with. For example, the area that I live in is not the greatest and walking out on my own after 4:30pm in the winter nerves me ever so slightly. The town that I come from is a comfortable environment as its what I’m used to, I know where you should not walk alone at night and I know where the cheapest bars and places to eat are. My new ‘chapter’ of being in a huge city, two-hour journey from my small town, is petrifying and nerve racking all at once, but it’s a hurdle that we as new city timers have to jump over.
New chapters are all about finding out who you are and what makes you happy. Whether this is continuously going out to town and clubs with your friends and drinking the night away and spending the next day in bed with many painkillers and fizzy drinks to make yourself feel human again. Or could be a simple activity of small walks to new areas of your town/city and finding new ways to enjoy your free time. But, if you have struggled because of obstacles such as anxiety or maybe an attitude of ‘its too much effort’, my biggest advice to not only those in a similar situation but also to myself is to have a new attitude of ‘If I don’t do it now, when will I ever do it?’, it’s advice that I’m slowly adding into my own daily routine and I’m slowly and surely enjoying city life that little bit more.
Manchester