University: What Has My First Year Taught Me?

As my first year at University begins to come to an end, and not only has it given me new opportunities and that new, fresh start that I was craving, it has also made me open my eyes to the real world and taught a few new life lessons that I will forever be grateful for, so I thought that I would share with you just a few of the most important things I have learnt in my life so far from being at University:

There are plenty more fish in the sea:
Now this doesn't just apply to romantic relationships, this saying can also be applied to friendships as well. All through my school years I have never really had many 'friends'. Now when I say 'friends', I'm talking about people who I trust and know who I know like and appreciate me for me. I have had those who I would hang out with just so I didn't feel lonely, but they were never people I would called my 'true friends'; I always felt like I had to be someone else around them just to feel acknowledged and not to be laughed at, which at the time felt worth it, but after just 7-8 months at university I now know I don't need to EARN friends. There are people at Uni who I have built a real relationship with and feel 100% comfortable around, and more importantly, trust more than those I had been "friends" with at school for the past 6-10 years. Just having girls (and boys) asking me how I am, asking about my life and taking a genuine interest in me makes me feel worth something. I feel like I can be my honest, goofy self, and because of that, I have never been happier.

Don't be afraid to take risks:
Some of the accomplishments I have made already at Uni wouldn't have happened without stepping that little bit outside my comfort zone. I think this links with the first point I made because now I am happier, I automatically feel like I have the strength to reach further and push myself to do things I may have always wanted to do but never had the courage to. When you have the right people around you, you feel like you can do anything and if you do make a mistake or something doesn't quite pan out the way you hoped it would, you have people there to help you through it. Thankfully for me, the majority of the risks I have taken have worked out for the best, which I know I wouldn't have dared to do before now, and will now learn from and continue to do for the rest of my life.

There is more than one destination:
University can put a lot of pressure on students to feel like they have to know exactly where they want to go next and what they want to do for the rest of their lives, and this is just not the case. I still don't know what it is specifically I want to do after University, but all I do know is that there is never a wrong decision. Right now, I know that carrying on with University is the next step I want to take personally, but just because this is the right decision for me that doesn't mean it's right choice for everybody. In just the first month I lost one of my flatmates who I had already become very close with and considered a good friend, so understandably I was quite upset when she said she was leaving, but I now know that she was just doing what the correct thing for her happiness and future was because clearly she wasn't going in her desired direction. Now, she is much happier and I am for her. Starting University doesn't mean you're stuck heading towards a certain destination for the next 3-4 years if you don't want to be. There are always other options, and that goes for anything in life.

It's ok to feel ready to move on:
One of the biggest realisations for me since starting University is that I am ready to move on and start my life as a more independent person, and that means being ready to leave home for good. Obviously, this makes me sad (I never thought time would actually come) but it's going to happen at some point and beginning University has shown me that I AM ready. I have actually just bought my first ever house which I can call my own, and as big of change this is going to be for me and my family, I am also very excited for this new chapter and that's ok. I'm not going to lie, coming back home for the holidays is difficult as I don't want to leave again after being there for 3-4 weeks, but once I take that step forward again and get back to independence I DO feel happy, which I think is God's way of telling me that now is the right time.


They have been many other life lessons I have learnt from the last few months at University but these are just a few of the most important ones to me and that have made me a much happier person in general; even just writing this post has helped me reflect on my life recently and made feel so grateful and content.
If you are at or are beginning University, I hope these are some things you consider and let me know whether you have maybe felt a similar way, along with some of the other things you have learnt so far.

I also just want to say thank you for supporting me so far with THIS exciting risk I decided to take recently, it has made me so happy and I really appreciate you all.