October was not just the end of freshers and Halloween for me; it was also my birthday month! This year it was a special one, I turned 21! Do I feel 21? – absolutely not, in my head I’m still a 16-year-old teenager. However, being considered a fully-fledged adult everywhere in the world now, I thought I would pass down all of my wisdom. Both about university life, and life in general. I hope that it helps some of you make sense of this crazy world a bit better.
- If you don’t want to do something, just don’t do it. Setting boundaries for yourself and sticking to them is important. It’s as simple as that.
- It’s ok to miss out on things, you’re not superhuman. You can’t go to every social event, the gym everyday, attend your lectures and have enough time to study. It’s not possible, and it’s ok to say no sometimes.
- But don’t say no to everything, you still need a work/life balance, it’s ok to take a break sometimes.
- Friendships over relationships any day. Spend more time making and keeping friends rather than constantly trying to seek out a romantic relationship. You’ll thank me later.
- Toxic people can’t be fixed, and they’re not going to make you happy. So, know when to cut people out of your life, they don’t deserve your time or energy.
- It’s ok to ask for help. You can’t do everything on your own, learning to lean on the people around you is key to getting through life.
- Learn to appreciate the little things in life: like home-cooked meals, when a stranger smiles at you in the street, a hug from a loved one you haven’t seen in a while.
- Live in the moment – I know it sounds cliché, but you don’t know when your last day will be, so live your life. Thriving every day, instead of just surviving.
- Be yourself: loudly and unafraid of what anyone else thinks. Embrace all of your weird quirks and traits that make you, you.
- You are going to be rejected, a lot: for jobs, romantically; but rejection is part of life and every time you are rejected, it teaches you something that you can learn from.
- Grades are not everything and they do not define you. You do not need to base your worth on academic validation.
- Be organised. Life can easily get away from your if you don’t stay on top of it.
- Comparison is the thief of joy. Don’t get trapped in that negative cycle.
- Don’t just stick with what you’re comfortable with, sometimes you need to take risks and experience new things.
- For all the avid YOLO goers out there, you don’t NEED to stay until Angels. A six hour stint in the SU every week isn’t going to do you any good.
- You also don’t need to have 4 VKs in your hands at all times. Just because they’re £10, it doesn’t mean you need to buy them.
- The best late-night scran after a night out: family fish bar (if you know, you know).
- Make the most of all the student deals available to you. For example, student discounts, apps like Unidays and Student Beans, the Taf student nights (Dirty Fridays, Sunday Carvery etc.).
- Get a Lidl Plus card: it will be your saving grace if you live in Cathays.
- Buy a decent umbrella, because lets be real, we live in Wales, and it rains more than it is sunny here.
- Remember to slow down. 21 isn’t even that old, we still have our whole lives ahead of us, just waiting to be lived.
Words by Ella Collis