Changing places.

So, the good news I’d been waiting for has arrived.  Another year of student life awaits me in September.  I must be the only student who looks forward to start of term.

Lots to look forward to though, with new experiences in the fashion industry to enjoy.  Lots of deadlines too, but we survived them the first time round. We'll be grand.

It’s funny, if you told me a year ago, I’d have taken myself out of my comfortable long term desk job to head back to college, no way would I have believed you.  Not to mention doing it twice.

Quite the challenge, as it happens, but do-able all the same.  How many of us sit in work dreaming of a different (or better?) life, but most of us don’t believe we could actually make it happen.

I’m still not sure I can make it happen to be honest, but I’m gonna try it anyway.

What have I got to lose, apart from a few months’ salary?

They say a change is as good as a rest.  My Nana used to say that anyway, and she was right about pretty much everything.

Hard as it is to carry on the routine 9-5 job in groundhog day fashion, stepping away from it can be even harder.  

Not least by losing the steady income, but the friends and colleagues you’ve seen every day for years. The same routine, same expectations. Good or bad as they may be.

Leaving all that familiarity behind for a while can be scary but exciting at the same time. Moving into a totally different world with new people, new routines and new expectations.

As the world’s worst over-thinker, I ask myself the doubting questions at least twice a day.  Will I be able for this? Am I doing the right thing? Will I live up to their expectations and my own? 

Worth reminding myself of the exam results from last year, guess I can’t be doing too badly.

There’s only one way to answer these questions though, and it isn’t by mulling over them at 2 am on a Sunday night.

Guess I need to re-evaluate my own expectations sometimes.  I’ve never been one for risk-taking, but with a bit of planning behind it, I’m about to take my second in a year.

I’ve no idea what this next academic year will hold, (and I might be better off not knowing for now).  I’m sure there will be some stress, a few challenges and some last minute panicky moments, but we’ll get through them.  It’s worth these moments for something you love to do. And it’s taken me long enough to figure out what I love to do.

I may be back sitting at a desk again this time next year, but even so, I’d have the satisfaction of knowing I can survive out of the little office bubble. 

                                       

No more office clothes for me for the next nine months.  Time to switch around the wardrobe again soon, pack away the admin assistant and take the student back out. Maybe even a bit of shopping, before I go back to living off pot noodles and toast.