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!

edwardian

*dramatic inhale/ exhale* Ahhh, Spring! My favourite time of year! Now, I'm sure you've all heard me say that during the year, but this is my actual favourite time of year. Often you'll wake up to warm sunlight, nice breezes, then the day will conclude with grey clouds or perhaps a storm. It might rain during the night, and everything will be green the next day. Not only that, but flowers start growing again, and everything that disappeared during the Winter is finally back again to thrive. Believe it or not, these photos were taken in a swamp. One that is usually crawling with mosquitos, but today Mother Nature cut me some slack cause she knew that I wanted to take some photos and they all seemed to disappear to the other swamp nearby. Chur to you, Mother Nature. 

I decided to come home for the rest of the week and visit my Mum and sisters because I think I was getting a bit too caught up in the city life and I needed a breather. It's easy to lose yourself in the constant social happenings, the hustle and bustle, and the stress of being independent. For the most part, I'm ridiculously happy, more content with life than I ever have been, but lately I found myself in the middle of things that I didn't want to be in the middle of, I was running around like a headless chook trying to get jobs done and became a total shrew in the process. When you start crying because your clothes got wet on the washing line cause it rained, that's when you know it's time to come home and talk to your Mum. I've been home for 24 hours and I already feel like myself again - mainly because the food here is so damn good and I went to bed at 9:30pm last night. Shut eye does wonders every time. The only downside to being home, aside from my little sister loading my bedroom up with minion toys that talk during the night and scare the shit out of me, is that everyone here watches The Bachelorette. I could write a whole paper on my distaste for that show. And tinder. And all those things, but I won't because I would be better off spending my time reading Anne of Green Gables and appreciating what true romance is, as opposed to this codswallop that has my Mum and sisters  (and the rest of the population it seems) hooked. Pish tosh. 

What has been happening lately in your lives? 2015 seems to be the year of "first times" for me. A few weeks ago I shot an air rifle (I'm REALLY hoping that's the technical name for it or my guy friends will launch into a painful lecture about what I really shot with) and rode a motorcycle all within hours of each other. In all honestly, I'm 100% surprised I didn't severely injure myself while riding that bike because not only do I have a long running history of accidents occurring on things with two-wheels, but I also don't know what gears are nor what they do. By the end of the day, I'm pretty sure the engine on the bike I rode was completely flooded. But hey, I shredded that dirt road and I had a bloody good time. 

Anyway, I'm going to go read The Return of the King and have my fourth cup of rooibos for the day. I'll probably have an early night again too just because I can. Ciao for now!