Something that I keep telling myself is that I should blog more. In fact, I’ve been telling myself that ever since I started University back in September, but I’ve been kind of pre-occupied with another form of writing – essays – all of which demand spending as much time inserting citations and references as they do constructing a decent argument. Still, I’m relishing the challenge that a life of higher education brings and, even more so, i’m loving actually having some structure and routine to my life again. No longer do I spend six hours a day playing Overwatch, neither do I lie in bed all morning, wondering what my days could have been like if that breakdown in 2017 hadn’t have forced me to retreat from what back then I considered my life. But I am grateful for that experience, because if I hadn’t have lived through those years of relentless nothingness I wouldn’t have discovered my love of writing and ultimately I would never have taken the plunge and returned to education.
And I’m glad I did make that decision, because if nothing else it has made me realise what I want from life. I’m passionate about the written word and how the most basic of things – language – can be constructed and manipulated into something that is ultimately more beautiful and has the ability to bring untold pleasure to whoever is reading it. I imagine those who use paint and colour as their tools of choice feel the same way.
But University isn’t just about learning or developing your craft. It is so much more than that. Obviously the whole point of attending in the first place is to get your degree and ultimately securing yourself a place in the industry that you desire, but it is also about getting to know yourself – and the other people you meet along the way – a whole lot better. For me it was always going to feel daunting having to interact with so many people again, especially having spent nigh-on four years at home with only the cat and the cesspit of social media for company, but it is something that I feel I have adapted to fairly well. It’s also done absolute wonders for my mood, despite the occasional wobble, I’m probably a lot more content with what my life has to offer than I ever have been.
University – and life in general – is all about learning to manage your time effectively. Juggling your educational responsibilities with everything else that you’ve got going on in your life, and having the self-discipline to devote the required amount of time to achieve what you set out to do in the first place. And yes, it’s also about going out, being social and pissing your student loan up against the wall if you’re fresh out of sixth-form, but I’m just a little bit past all of that!
Chris Hack 