Post-Graduation and Travel (More Entertaining than it sounds, I promise)

Picture the scene; I'm sitting on one of the sofas at Uni with no-one around, enjoying the wonder of only having 1 lecture, which at that point had been done and dusted, then one of my flatmates comes down and we enter the dark and mysterious world of discussing 'Post-Graduation' and the speed of Uni. Part of the reason we began this discussion is because its nearing the end of the spring term and only having 1 term left of the entire freshers year seems...well....incredible and daunting. Nevertheless it got me thinking, with nearly 2 years left (the speed of which, judging by this year is likely to zoom past) What is my post-BachelorOfArts-graduation plan? and if I'm truly honest I'm rather undecided right now. I'm not saying that once someone has been in Uni for a year it is imperative that they have a 50 year plan, but I like to know what I'm doing, and it's a little disillusioning when I'm left without too much clarity as to my future plans. So, as much as I comprehend the fact that having too many choices as to where my career and life is heading is actually quite freeing and exciting, I still want to lay down some metaphorical paving stones in the way of prospective possibilities. My  'paving stones' or Paving Stones of Resolution as I'm going to call them because it just sounds cool, similar to New Years Resolution (but it's past that so yeah, lets just create something fun and original) are as follows;

• Blog more (I know I've mentioned in at least 3 of the previous 20 posts that I'll try to write more, and I just  get caught up in other stuff, but I really feel it would aid my personal sanity and from a more professional perspective; it'll help develop my writing style, so hopefully I'll write at least 1-2 times a week if not more)
• Pictures - This is a bit of an extension to the above Paving Stone of Resolution but I want to start adding pictures to my blogs, even if they are only slightly linked to the post I'd still like to do it, to give this relatively blank blog a more personal and attractive touch. (The picture in this post is of a fairly small Ferris Wheel in the centre of Paris - truly one of my favourite times, only there a week but it was incredible)
• Relax (Not much explanation needed. Stress is not fun, take own advice.)
• Look into Travel

Aaaaaaand that last Paving Stone creates a nice little segway into the next point; Travel. Travel, travel, travel, what do I actually mean? and why has it taken so long for me to get to this point? Well after the little discussion with my flatmate, I also thought about the idea of travelling, whether its to a couple of countries or even more, I've always wanted to do it! Does it or will it conflict with possibility of graduate study? Weeeell for now I don't care! In my opinion, it's not going to conflict with anything because whether I do it before I do post-graduate studies or when I'm going through some mid-life crisis I intend to do it! So now we've settled on if when I travel matters to me, lets go to where...For me, France has always been a personal obsession for me, I've been twice with my last school (1 day trip to Boulogne-sur-mer and a week trip to Paris) but I absolutely love it, and even if my 'travelling' was simply raising enough money and funding myself to be able to rent out a house in the South of France and stay there for a few months just writing and getting inspiration, that would be a dream/goal fulfilled. Places like Greece, America and Italy are also places I'd love to go, it doesn't have to be for too long, or to too many places, but what I'd like to end this post on, similar to my previous post on dreams and goals, if you sincerely have a dream (like to travel to [insertwishfulplace]) then you'll raise the money, and you'll have the drive for it. I will travel at some point, and that's not taking into consideration any possible monetary positives or negatives, it's because I want to. Don't be telling yourself you cant do what you want! YOU CAN. DO IT. NOW....well maybe not now, depends what you're doing. Can do if you want, why not?!

Ambition, Drive, and Patience.

The 3 words I have chosen for the title summarises the basis of this blog post, I wanted to write this for a while but I could never quite visualise it and get down to actually writing it, plus essays and deadlines tend to distract your mind at times. So, just to give pre-clarification to this blog post; its purpose is to hopefully give a little more hope to everyone who ends up reading this (whether it be today, or years from now) specifically hope toward ones future. Unfortunately in a world containing people who seem to derive their happiness, satisfaction and pleasure from lying to people and manipulating people into thinking what they want to do isn't "possible" or "logical" it's quite easy to find solace in giving up. Giving up is all well and dandy if you're fine with letting go of what is your true dream but if you know that at some point, whether it be 10 years, or 50 years from now that you'll look at your life, and regret that you didn't chase your dream further, then grab it while it's fresh in your mind. The thing that changes peoples perception of certain dreams as being "impossible" or "Illogical" to completely "worth it" and "achievable" is the person that wants the dream. When I say "want" I mean someone who is truly passionate about achieving that dream, and therefore will go through any stress or problems that may arise in getting to that eventual goal. That is one of the main things that will stop a person achieving dreams; the obstacles such as finance, stress etc  and if its that,the people are talking about in relation to the "impossibility" of your dream, then obviously take it into consideration but don't give up because of that. If you have a dream or a goal, you should only ever give up on it if there is a really serious and imperative demand for you to give up...and right now I can't really think of one. So think to yourself if you ever feel like giving up; "Why am I giving up?" question your motives and your reasoning, because most of the time there's very little to support the reasoning, and unless its something horrific, demeaning and of course illegal then don't let others dictate what you're true dream is. We're all born with a talent, or love for something and it's wrong to send someone in a direction they don't want to go.
I also want to stress that a 'dream' can be anything, it doesn't have to be a dream career, it can be a personal occupation such as being a parent, or as simple as making sure you enjoy your life. Ambition, drive and arguably the most important; patience - They key factors to achieving any goal. Ever.

P.S. Even if you're not young, or think you're too old to grasp the bull by the horn as it were, that's also not true, whatever age, you can do what you want to do!

Self Recognition and Positive Realisation.

Sorry for the absence on this blog, A) I've been rushing around like mad with various deadlines for Uni, B) I've been in varyingly weird moods recently so didn't want that to come across on here and finally C) I've been trying to work out the demographic chart on my dashboard, its get rather frustrating. Anyway, something I have done recently and many times before is the focus of this blog post today. So, basically when I'm feeling down I delve into the world of what I'm going to call, for the purpose of this blog; 'Self Recognition and Positive Realisation'. This works quite a bit with self-consciousness problems or in general, things affecting one's view of oneself, but it can also be applied to other situations. The idea is that when you feel down, you take a step back from the heavily negatively focused world you might be in at that time, and take a metaphorical and literal look around you. Where are you? Who are you? What have you done up to this point? and most people, unless you're a murderous, rapist, racially abusive psychopath currently in jail plotting the next attack, will realise that small or big they have something to be proud of. I'll put it in the example of myself, if I feel down when I'm here, I try and snap out of whatever mood I'm in and remind myself "GOSH DARNIT LIAM, YOU'RE IN UNI, YOU MADE IT TO FREAKING UNIVERSITY" and it allows me to reluctantly, no doubt, squeeze out a little smile. Once you've got the smile out, you can use it over and over again, but then try and realise other things, for example you might have recently helped a friend through a tough time, or you might have helped someone across the street, you might have even just  picked up someones purse for them. Big or small, these acts of kindness that you come to realise relate back to you and yourself, which is where Self Recognition comes in and you must 'recognise' your talents, and your  generosity, or your kindness and honesty. Generally speaking, if you care enough to become upset, and especially towards you're self, it means you care what others think of you, and this ability to care about others perception about you means that there must be some element of respect for others. This respect is very admirable, because it means you're more likely to be sensitive to others feelings and emotions, and means you can be kinder to others and subsequently happier in yourself. So please, if you're feeling down, step back and enter the Self Recognition and Positive Realisation universe, find something and lift your spirits.