Let It Be

You know the saying, “When life gives you lemons…”?

Well, in the last few weeks, Life didn’t “give” me lemons, per se. No, they were absolutely pelted at me. Consecutively. And also to a lot of people who I love very much, so it’s been a little bit sour lately. All I wanted by the end of last week was my Mum, and for my worries to be limited to whether or not the character in the book I am reading was going to have a happy ending. Being home really puts things into perspective for me, and although lately things have been sad/ stressful/ difficult, here’s what I have to say about it:

When I moved out of home in February, I was 17, and had absolutely no idea what I was signing myself up for. As this year is starting to draw to a close I can’t help but be incredibly proud of everything I’ve achieved since leaving the Sunshine Coast and heading off to uni. I was originally never going to leave home (well, a least for a couple of years), because it was comfortable, familiar and I knew exactly what to expect. It was like a straight road; I knew exactly what was ahead of me as far as the eye can see. Moving out was like a foggy forest trail and I could only see about 100m ahead. When I got my acceptance letter from UQ in January I knew that it was the right thing to do and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve learnt so much about myself and life in the last few months and I’m incredibly lucky to have such beautiful friends, supportive family and an awesome network in general. I think it’s really important to keep the big picture in mind when you hit MAJOR bumps in the road and that’s exactly what September/ October was like for me. A major bump.

Things that helped me through were:

1. Reminding myself that what I’ve done so far is great and worthwhile
2. That life shouldn’t be seen as a ticking time bomb… you shouldn’t feel like you *have* to have a uni degree by age X, or that you should have your license or a boyfriend at X age etc. The keyword there is “have” and “should”. Under what governance? Society, that’s what! It’s a shame that so many young people (including myself) get so caught up in what is expected of them that they forget to value what they already have/ achieved.
3. Asking myself that question, “will this matter in five years?”. Most likely, the answer will be no. 

It’s been really lovely visiting home the last few days. It’s so relaxing and spending time with my family was exactly what I needed to do. Yesterday I caught up with some of my schools friends at the beach for drinks and a catch up which was really refreshing and today I hung out with two of my roomies and friends at Kondalilla Falls. The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately too, so overall, I’m feeling pretty healed. And also, maybe like a tiny weeny bit tan? Okay, maybe not. #palegirlprobs

Anyway - onto the photos! So, this is probably the best representation of my natural hair ever shown on Avenue Maria and it’s the direct result of waterfall explorations and air drying in the sun. It’s bit crazy, and very curly and I’m embracing it, as you can see. The dress I’m wearing is also very ‘Maria’ I think. It’s very special to me, it was a spontaneous purchase which I paid off over the period of about six weeks in order to save my bank account the shock of a $130 instant drainage. The spring collection at Portmans has been very hard to walk past whenever I visit Queen St. mall and this floral midi was one of those “I just can’t continue living without it!” purchases. 

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend! Remember, life gets sweeter (see first para), everything is temporary and you’ll be okay. I’m now going to do what I often do after writing up a blog post… sip some rooibos and watch an Elvis Presley movie. Night!