Project Confidence: Accepting What You Can't Change

Image: weheartit.com

Recently I had a few weeks off work, during which I started to feel quite a bit better about myself in terms of my personality and confidence levels. However, since going back I have found that I have been comparing myself to others quite a bit which is never a good thing.
For the longest time, I have always wanted to be a certain type of person and it has only been recently that I have actually started to actively do something about it. That being said, I have realised that changes I want to make can be classified into three different categories.

Paperbacks vs eBooks

I am a bookaholic. There, I said it!

I have loved reading since before I can remember. It is the perfect way to escape to another world where you can forget all of your own problems and completely lose yourself in someone else’s life. When I was younger, you could always find me with my head in a book, usually a different one each week. Unfortunately, as I grew up, reading became less important me. I thought that schoolwork was the most important thing in life and while it is very important, I didn’t have a good balance between my personal and school life so I stopped reading.

However, recently, I have been putting more effort into reading and am currently reading my 24^th book this year. One of the reasons I am enjoying reading more recently is due to quite a controversial topic among book-lovers: the e-reader. 

How to be a Gentleman

Source: thenextweb.com

In today’s day and age being a gentleman isn’t a high priority for most men. Most men are more interested in having “swag” and being “cool” among others their age, however I believe there are still some guys who want to be that perfect gentleman, so here is my perspective about what it takes to be a gentleman. Most of my points have ended up being about the dating phase of a relationship, though I think a lot of the points can be transferred to those who are already in an established relationship.

Would You Rather: Beauty Edition

I love these type of posts! When I first saw the Would You Rather Beauty questions I knew that I had to answer the questions as some of them are quite interesting, so here are my answers.

Moving Tips

As you may or may not know, I moved back in with my parents last month after half a year of living in a flat with my boyfriend. My boyfriend and I both moved in with my family in order to save for a mortgage as, living in the flat with extortionate rent rates, council tax and bills, we were unable to put anything into savings.

While our move wasn’t a complete train wreck, I have definitely learnt from our mistakes! My experiences might not be applicable to everyone but I thought I would share my top tips for moving.

Most Embarrassing Moment

When I think “most embarrassing story” I tend to draw a blank. It’s not because I don’t have any embarrassing stories, it’s more that I tend to laugh at myself so situations aren’t as embarrassing. I’m sure we’ve all waved back at someone who was waving behind us or tripped and fell in public so I am not counting these situations. I actually can’t remember many other embarrassing stories (I’ve probably blocked them out from sheer humiliation) however, there are a couple that spring to mind but one of them stands out as being my most embarrassing moment, hands down.

A couple of months ago, I was in the bathroom with my friend. We were washing our hands before going on break and when I was in the middle of drying my hands, the phone rang! Since it was the work phone, I had to answer it despite my wet hands. It turned out to be one of the managers asking a question about some stock, which I answered quickly. Eager to get off the phone and dry my hands (and a little bit on autopilot), the conversation wrapped up and he thanked me for helping him. My response?

"OK, thanks, love you, bye."

Yes, you read that right. Love you. I said I loved one of my bosses.

My mate asked who that was and when I told her it was one of the managers, she burst out laughing. Luckily, the manager that I had confessed my love for either didn't hear me say it or he had the decency not to mention it since he never asked me about it. I thank my lucky stars every day that he didn't...

My friend still hasn't let me live it down though.

It’s not such a major embarrassing story (sorry to disappoint), but like I said I think I have blocked out the most embarrassing stories to avoid living the humiliation.

What is your most embarrassing story? Don’t leave me hanging here, guys!

- Taisie ♥

Book Review: Eeny Meeny

After taking so long to read a Clash of Kings a few months ago, I decided I wanted to have a break from big books and read a few easier, smaller books. I read Sleeping Arrangements and decided to follow it up with a bit of a more mature, weighty book so I picked up Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. The blurb talks about how pairs of victims are abducted, imprisoned and then forced to sacrifice either their life or their conscience. Since I love horror films and mysteries, I knew this book would be a great read for me and as it happens, it only took me three days to finish reading so I thought I would share my opinions on the book.

10 Annoyances of Social Media

Over the past few decades, our world has evolved into such a technological one that it is rare to find a 15 year old without a phone. The introduction and subsequent decreasing costs of smart phones means it is easier to access the internet when out and about, instead of having to use the dial-up internet on the one computer in your house.

In most circumstances, having phones can be a blessing. Not only are they useful for phoning the police or an ambulance should an emergency arise, they are also useful when you’re trying to remember that actress’s name from that TV show you haven’t watched in years (hello, Google).

However, the easy accessibility of the internet on smart phones has led to an increase in the number of social media sites and accounts. Social media sites are a bit of a bittersweet invention. While they are useful for keeping in touch with old friends, broadcasting a message and meeting new friends (with caution), I find that there are many disadvantages with using social media and here are my top ten annoyances.

100 Days of Happiness, 1-10

Can you believe that it has been 10 days since I set my 100-Day Resolutions? 10 days already! It just seems so unbelievable how fast that time has gone. Saying that, I have decided to post every 10 days about my 100 Days of Happiness. I hope you enjoy :)

To Uni or not to Uni?

Source: Wikipedia

If you had asked me when I was a child what I wanted to be when I was older, I wouldn’t have known what to respond with. If you had asked me when I was a teenager, I wouldn’t have known. If you ask me now, I still don’t know.

I feel as though most of the blogs that I go on have something to do with going back to university, whether it be tips for Freshers, organisation hacks or studying techniques and since I am 20 years old and haven’t been to university, nor am I deferring a place, I sometimes feel a bit left out.

I absolutely adore education; I love learning and studying and filling my brain with the intricate details about how the world works, so why aren’t I at university?

I’ll let you into a little secret: I actually applied for medicine when I was 18. I went to two interviews (despite receiving invitations to three) and had three rejections before I pulled out and decided to have a gap year. I got a job and had every intention of going to university the following year, but I felt so worn down by sixth form that I simply wanted a break from education so ended up not applying for university again.

I absolutely detested my time at sixth form. The school itself wasn’t a bad school it just really wasn’t what I was after and as a result, I ended up hating my time there which I feel impacted my results negatively and meant that I was unable to have the best sixth form experience possible.
I had been very unsure about making the decision to have a gap year as education was my life but I decided that, ultimately, it was the best decision for me.

As it stands, my friends are now entering their third year of university and pretty soon, they will be graduating with a degree and getting the jobs that they love (I think I’ll be deactivating my personal Facebook in May/June when that happens!).

While I love science, writing and learning, I don’t know what degree I would want, if any. Most of the time I console myself by thinking about how lucky I am that I don’t have a £30,000 debt and an unused degree, but sometimes it doesn’t feel enough.

The job I am in isn’t where I see my future but the truth is, I don’t know in which job I do see my future. I want to be able to provide a decent life for my family and not constantly worry about money, which I doubt will happen in my current job even if I progress up the career ladder.

Being honest, I have to say that that makes me want to find a degree I like so I can get a job I enjoy to provide a good life for my family. However, at the same time, saving for a mortgage and seeing my pregnant sister start her family make me want to settle down now. Can I really put that on hold to go to university? Can I afford not to?

99% of the time I am strong enough to realise that it was right of me to avoid following the norm and going to university when that wouldn’t have been right for me but the fact that I don’t know where my path leads - if anywhere - does make me question whether it was the best decision at times. I used to have my life planned out for me on a map - high school, sixth form, university, job, husband, child - but now that that has been completely demolished, there are times when I feel completely at a loss of what to do next. I have time on my side - after all I’m only 20 years old - but I have already been in my job for three years now and if I don’t do something to change it, pretty soon I will be celebrating my five year anniversary, and then my ten year anniversary and then my twenty year anniversary with the same company.

So what about you? Did you go to university? Do you use your degree or did you never need one?

- Taisie ♥