Every time I catch up with my girlfriends from university, guaranteed the line “who would’ve thought we’d be here ___ years ago?!” is mentioned at least once, as we reflect on everything that’s happened since we all met at the very beginning of our tertiary learning adventure in 2012 at the grown-up age of eighteen.
Over the years, people have come and gone, we’ve experienced heartache, shared delirious laughing fits, made bad hairstyle decisions (me being the main culprit), travelled all over, left the nest, enrolled in university.. again, gotten jobs, left jobs, gotten promotions and asked for pay rises, and even gotten hitched. None of us could have predicted our lives could have gone down the paths that they have. And at the fresh age of 25 years, I definitely didn’t think I would be where I am right now – sitting at my parent’s kitchen bench on a sunny summer Tuesday afternoon at 12:32pm.
I’m officially unemployed as of a week ago (in time for the quarter-of-a-century celebrations) and I am on a break. Being someone who thrives off of routine and the constant turning of cogs, this is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Dying to leave high school and hitting the ground running since day dot of uni, I’ve been non-stop. I’ve always worked toward something. I’ve been kept b-u-s-y. So as you can imagine, this whole ‘I’m free indefinitely’ phase of my life is a big change!
With that being said, in this very short period of time of joblessness I have taken it upon myself to start doing things that I enjoy doing that were put on hold due to the professional commitments of the nine to five. Like doing this blog post for starters. And reading! For a very long time I’ve just been piling up the books on the floor next to my bed, or carried at least one in my handbag with the intention of reading but never really quite getting there. I’ve KonMari-d my room, taken the tiniest liking to being ‘fit and active’ (heavy emphasis on ‘tiniest liking’), and have even dusted off my graphic pencils and drawing pad.
So how have I started off my 25th year of life? By getting reacquainted with small joys that I’d forgotten about. If I look at it this way, it ain’t so bad! Oh and spending more time with family – that’s always a plus. In short, I’m doing me and learning to enjoy slowing down.
If you happen to be hiring for a marketing professional though, holla at your gal!
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