Enjoy the journey

Hey everyone!

This week I wanted to talk about enjoying the journey and finding peace in where you are.

I used to think the idea of “enjoying the journey” was cliche and something that just rolled off the tongues of people who had their lives together (which through the lense of my teenage self, meant all adults). As I got older, I started to understand the deeper meaning behind the statement and see it’s true value; not because I had become someone who had their life together (evidence of this pertaining to the fact that I have skipped a week of blog posting and have now had the realisation that I can’t keep up with every week whilst balancing a job and social life), but more because I now realise that all of my experiences have led me to where I am today.

In my late teens and very early 20’s, I spent so much time rushing to the “next thing” that I didn’t quite appreciate just being in the moment as much as I should have. In my final year of university, I wanted to fast forward to graduation and a full time job when actually, I should been more appreciative of the fact that this would be the last place where I could get away with having an afternoon nap on a weekday and still meet all of my deadlines. On reflection, I’ve realised that the experiences, friends and memories made in those three years were priceless and I should have just enjoyed the journey and allowed the different events in my life to naturally play out in their own time as opposed to overthinking.

I think a big part of this may have been because I was so fixated on landing a training contract that as each year passed without me having one, I didn’t feel content with where I was as in my mind, I wasn’t where I should be.

Looking back, I was exactly where I needed to be at that moment in time and the fact that I graduated without a training contract lined up did not mean I was “behind” at all. If only I knew back then that if I remained disciplined and determined, it was all going to work out in time.

When you think about losing weight, you embark on a fitness journey and adopt a healthy balanced lifestyle. You won’t see results overnight despite the dreams sold to you by social media’s promotion of skinny teas and juice diets (although it pains me to admit that I have previously fallen victim to these lies and can confirm that they do not work. Save your money). You have to be consistent in your habits over a period of time to see the best results and when I started to think about my career in the same way, I stopped putting so much pressure on myself to have everything figured out right now. Of course it was important to have goals, but that didn’t mean that things were going to fall into place overnight without me having to go through several stages first.

It was my part-time job at waitrose as a student that led me to one of my first pieces of work experience in their legal team. If you had told me back then that working on the fish counter would eventually lead to me being fortunate enough to spend a week at head office, I would have probably laughed and continued to tell you about the fish of the day.

This was just the beginning and without the several pieces of different work experiences that followed (separate blog on these coming in a few weeks for those who are interested), I may not have landed my first full-time paralegal job which subsequently led to further legal roles and now, a training contract. Although I am still very early on in my career, I have been privileged enough to have had some invaluable experiences and meet so many kind people whom I wont have come across had I had landed a training contract in the timeframe that I originally set myself.

To my younger self and anyone else who is in such a rush to get to where they think they “should” be:

• Stop rushing through life and spend more time taking in what is going on around you. From the people you meet, to the places you visit, to the memories you are making. Life is nothing without experiences.

• Whilst pushing yourself and setting goals is great, don’t be so disheartened if things don’t quite “go to plan”. Take the good out of every situation as you never know what is around the corner.

• Regardless of what age you buy your first place, start your career, or settle down, you are going to get there and you won’t be “behind” at all. Your life should move at your own pace and there is no rule book on how to do it. Take your time, take it easy and enjoy the journey.

Here is a reminder below of why you should never look at yourself and think you are “behind”:

I must admit that a small part of me wants to come up with a civilised excuse as to why I won’t be able to keep up with weekly posts, but the honest truth is that with the world now reopening, I have a years worth of socialising to catch up on and have decided to book double the brunches to make up for the lost year of my 20s that I won’t be getting back. I promise that I’ll do my best to keep you interested despite the reduced frequency.

See you in two weeks x