every day life – Page 20

“All that we’ve amassed, Sits before us, shattered into ash”

I woke up, looked at the clock, closed my eyes again. A moment later, opened my eyes and had to face the reality – I’d overslept again. What followed was a day just like that – struggling to keep on top of things, trying so damn hard but finding myself staring in disbelief at what is facing me.

Last week was not a good week. The horrible coursework was due and it was rush and a struggle to get the report written – my circuit was still crap, but I at least wanted to write a good report. Isn’t that the way of things – it goes wrong, so you talk about why and what you learned, try and turn your failure into something beautiful and motivational, try not to let it show how it hurt you or your own confusion over why it happened in the first place.

Anyway, last week. I was barely keeping myself afloat. The coursework was due, I had that horrible business module on Tuesday, a not so nice Japanese class on Tuesday evening as I’d been at uni since 9:30am due to the business module and was exhausted. Come that Thursday and I was going home for the weekend – wanting a break, even if being at home is actually quite stressful in a ways, at least its a change of scenery. I had that Thursday all planned out – get up early, prepare the house and pack, go into uni and submit my coursework, then go to my lecture, then to the station to wait for my train. What actually happened was I woke up late, rushed into uni, barely got my coursework done on time and submitted, rushed back home to get my house ready, have lunch, get packed, rushed back out to uni, realised my lecture had already taken place – I’d got the time wrong, this far into the semester and I’d got it wrong. I went to sit in a quiet place, attempting my breathing exercise, trying to get myself to calm down. But I’d had a horrible week and I felt everything pile up and I could have had a panic attack right then and there. Breathe, calm down. I drank some water, had something to eat, forced myself to just keep sitting, just stay there and not try to make any decisions whilst panicked. Quite a few minutes passed before I felt myself becoming calm enough to think over the problem at hand – do I go home again, or do I head straight to the station? The house was a mess and it was bugging me – did I have time to go back and do some last minute cleaning? Such a simple decision when I write it out, but to me then it was making me feel sick and shaky trying to make it. Once I start getting agitated, there’s no going back and even the simplest of decisions can make me feel panicked, terrified of the consequences. Breathe. I decided to stop rushing about, wasting money on the bus, wasting energy, causing myself to panic, and to just get to the station and focus on getting home. Just one simple task. I could manage that. I walked to the bus station, got the bus, and by the time I got to the station I was feeling remarkably better. Things started to look up – I was able to get an earlier train and it was fairly empty, quiet and so I worked on my thesis for a bit. At the next station I was feeling pretty good. Despite the fact it was raining and it was cold, I stood out on the platform to wait for my train, needing the fresh air. The next train was also quiet, I worked on my thesis some more, had supper, watched some dramas. By the time I got home everything was OK. My dad and my sister met me at the station and we went shopping before coming home.

And it turned out to be a nice weekend. I’d been a bit nervous – it always makes me nervous, thinking about being around my family, about being around people. But my family weren’t there most of the time so it was just me and my cat in the quiet house and that was great. And of course on Saturday I went out with my dad hiking and that really helped take my mind off things. I didn’t get that much work done though. On Sunday, I was back on the train again, heading back to uni. I wasn’t feeling so good – I was worried about work, as usual. I felt guilty for taking time off. But I was determined to make this week a good one. If I managed my time properly I could get things done. As if, its been another week of wanting desperately to fix things, but unable to quite push myself to make the necessary changes.

I feel so overwhelmed. On Tuesday I was reminded that I have a Japanese speaking test next week and a writing test the week after. Both of which I had forgotten about. And it hit me that April is right around the corner so my exams are a month away, and my group thesis first draft is due in two weeks but none of my group members have even finished their work. Everything is piling up and I’m not in the right head space to deal with it. I’m trying so hard just to stay afloat – but its not enough. Just getting myself to do half an hours Japanese revision or one question on a worksheet takes a ridiculous amount of willpower. And I cannot progress further. I find myself totally stuck. How on earth am I going to get through this?

The weird thing is, my therapy is going quite well. I’m facing certain things and working through them – but it does leave me feeling tired and emotional, and it takes away from me. Its really damn upsetting – facing these things, rather than denying them. I’m not feeling positive right now, and I have good days sure but they aren’t positive days – they are days where I am more willing to be positive. Where I can just about get up in the morning, eat my three meals and my two snacks, get a little, tiny bit of revision done and maybe if I’m lucky a bit of work on my thesis, send some emails I need to send. And not beat myself up about it – tell myself, at least you did that much, and tomorrow will be even better. But there are days where I think about all the deadlines and get caught up thinking of the future and how much everything means right now, how important it all feels, and I think to myself why even bother. Like, I cannot bring myself to do anything because it’s not good enough just that one question, just those 30 minutes, I need to do more, but I cannot do more, and just like that, becoming stuck and getting nothing done.

Its crazy – these drastic swings from up to down. It’s tiring. I’m still so close to just giving up.

Post Title: Bastille - Things we lost in the fire

“I stood frozen on that stage, looking for the courage to to strike back”

beginning the walk
Lud's Church
Forest
pathway with Shutlingsloe in the distance
Peak
top of the roaches
roaches01

Doxley pool
Flurries of snow
Hen Cloud
Rain in the distance
Rainbow

On Saturday I was at home, so my Father and I decided to go walking together. We left the house early and drove into the Peak District. The weather was a bit chilly but clear and still, although the gray clouds hanging over the peaks ahead promised much more dismal weather conditions coming up. We arrived, bundled up and set off walking towards The Roaches. We started walking through some forest towards Lud’s Church. This is not an actual church but rather a sort of cave – steep rock walls tower up above you on either side, covered in moss and with trees drooping over the edges. Its very impressive. I think the name comes from the fact that people did use it as a place for religious meetings. We walked the whole way through it then climbed out of it into more forest. By this point I’d stripped down the number of layers I was wearing and was questioning why I’d even brought a coat. The walk was also fairly easy, the ascent to the ridge gentle. But as we came out the forest the path became steeper and the wind picked up. We climbed on and then it began to rain lightly. By the time we got to the start of the Roaches the wind was strong and it was pouring with rain. We started up to the Roaches, stopping briefly to put on our raincoats, bundling up again against the severe wind and the pouring rain. I trudged onwards, my father behind me. The path was fairly steep, although nice and paved, and the weather miserable, although the sun was still shining and the view was very pretty. We got to the top of the Roaches and the rain stopped and the sun shone brighter, but the wind was still strong. We walked along the top of the edge, admiring the bizarre rock formations and the pretty view of the fields below. Eventually we found a sheltered place to sit and eat lunch. Soon, it began to snow. No, I am not making that one up. Actual snow flakes began to fall, even as it was sort of raining still, so they melted as soon as they hit the ground. It was also freezing cold.

We carried on, in the snow/rain and the wind, and ended up going right to the end of the roaches, past Doxey Pool. The views continued to be spectacular, and the drop from the edge was sheer rock -my dad kept walking to the edge and peering over whilst I lingered behind and nervously pleaded with him to step back and not get blown off. Now we had to get down somehow. This involved clambering, half scrambling down the rocks. It began to snow properly, flurries of the stuff falling down and bouncing off the rock faces to settle in the cracks between the rocks, where we needed to step. Halfway down my father twisted his ankle which was a oh shit no moment if there ever was one. I swore out loud and asked “are you ok?” already beginning to panic. I can easily get worked up when things feel like they are out of my control in a bad way – its all part of the anxious mental state. Thankfully after a moments rest my father was OK. Although my father is very stoic and secretive even he wouldn’t have been able to hide if he was in serious pain and he seemed fine so I did my best to curtail my panic. We carried on down. The snow subsided, but the rain continued, as did the wind. It was really cold. “Are you OK?” I kept asking my dad, nervously looking back at him. Still slightly anxious. Thankfully every time he replied positive, and every time he was not struggling. We made it to the bottom. Hen Cloud was ahead of us, looking terribly steep and exposed. My father was keen to climb it but I was hesitant “In this wind?” it looked like we’d be blown right off it – I did, in one of my walks with the university rambling society, experience a walk that involved scrabbling up a hillside with the wind pushing at you, so you’d end up stumbling, and eventually crawling along the top at points, before sliding down on your butt as you descended. It was tough. My father was adamant though and a part of me did see the logic in the we’ve come all this way. We carried on towards Hen Cloud and up. Amazingly, the rain stopped, the wind died and the sun came back as we climbed up. At the top we met a nice man who was part of the network of volunteers who climb up Hen Cloud every single day for two months to watch over the edge where the Peregrine falcons are hatching to make sure no one disturbs them. Amazing isn’t it? Imagine climbing up there, and then standing there for hours, in this weather. My father and him had a nice chat as I stood slightly behind my father, listening, smiling and nodding where appropriate, but saying nothing. We said goodbye to the nice man and carried onwards to the peak of Hen Cloud, which provided some nice views. Then it was back down Hen Cloud to start the journey back to the car park.

Neither my father nor I were particular keen on ascending to the roaches again, so we skirted around it on a rough track which lead to a dirt road, that we followed onto a twisting country lane which we followed all the way back to the car park – a little monotonous, and the rain kept coming and going as it pleased, but pleasant enough. We saw a full rainbow too – the entire semi circle I mean. I think that was my first time. That was cool.

We got to the car and shed our wet outer layers then started the drive back. My dad stopped at McDonald’s and bought me fries, which was a nice end to the day – I was ravenous after walking 9 miles. It was a very nice day overall and I was thankful my father chose a relatively easy walk – although the weather could have been better!

Post Title: VELTPUNCH - CRAWL

“Spoken Words. Broken Hearts. Instant Dreams.”

My family came round over the weekend – my parents and my sister.

I got up bright and early on Saturday morning, keen on taking things day by day like I said I would, and headed to university to work on my coursework. To my surprise, things began to work, and I felt very relieved, even though there was the lingering worry that I still did not really understand, and so was doing it wrong. I then went home, and waited for my family. They arrived one hour after they said they would. It was confusing and overwhelming – they all wanted to speak to me, all wanted my attention, all at once. I admit I mostly wanted to talk to my dad – he recently went on a business trip to Seoul and I was eager to hear about what he thought of it and what he had done and what he had eaten.

Also I’d asked him to buy me some beauty items there and was not disappointed – he brought me a whole bag of goodies. He got me the wrong cleanser – I asked for the History of Whoo brightening cleansing foam, but he got me the History of Whoo cleansing cream. I did not complain of course – too awed by the stunning packaging, and the fact that my father had splurged on something even more expensive and luxurious when I thought he would baulk at just the whitening cleanser! He also got me HERA sunmate daily – my daily sunscreen/makeup base. And the Sooryehan essence foundation. I got a bunch of samples – including HERA homme items which made me laugh – I wanted to know how my father had ended up with those, and I tried to persuade him to use them but my father remained unimpressed. He also stashed away the red pepper paste and some kind of Korean dressing from the plane for me, and his hosts had given him various odd smelling teas that he gave me some sachets of. I’m a little wary of them – one of them smells like coffee, its very odd! Meanwhile my mother took it upon herself to go poking around my house – cleaning things as she wished, and criticizing as she wished too. I pleaded with her to stop but my mother can never be stopped. She even went into my cupboards and my fridge, inspecting…who does this?! My sister was preoccupied this weekend as she has a new boyfriend – so when she wasn’t glued to her phone facebooking him, all she wanted to do was speak about him. It was an overwhelming mix of emotion that came over me faced with my family – nervousness, annoyance, happiness, excitement, anger, embarrassment.

We went out to get something to eat at a lovely Thai restaurant. I had a spicy red curry with coconut rice. So tasty! Afterwards we went to the theatre to see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. This was where the evening took a turn for the awesome. I’ve always wanted to see this rendition of Swan Lake and it did not disappoint. I loved it. It was fairly strange and I am not entirely certain of the plot (I went in knowing it had something to do with swans, and came out knowing it had something to do with swans) but it was beautiful and gripping and emotional, and with a great streak of humour too. At one point I was so completely absorbed in it that I dropped my program on the lady sitting next to me. I would feel bad, if she hadn’t been texting and whispering for the majority of the performance.

If there is one thing that makes me ache seeing this was remembering when I used play the main swan lake theme on my violin. As I was watching it I couldn’t help but remember what that felt like – it had been one of my favourite pieces to play. That evening I listened to the whole opus and ached to pick up my violin and play. I think sometimes I regret failing my music exams more than I regret failing my A levels because it feels like there is no second chance with it, that it was a lost, wasted opportunity. It has really hit me how I squandered what was a really precious, unique opportunity – a lack of time and money means its impossible to take music lessons now, and I badly need a few refresher lessons before I pick up the violin again. I long to play again though – at the end, it became all about exams and I began to hate it, because I was depressed and it was just too much effort, but I remember what it was like before, how wonderful it was to play, how I loved it and how much I actually did want to become Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8. I love music, I always have. Isn’t it incredible how it can inspire so many emotions in a person? How it can define moments of our lives? And there’s something especially rewarding about being able to create it, rather than just listening to it. But its time consuming and expensive to learn it. I really regret giving up on it before. I hope that regret doesn’t hang over me for a long time, and one day I will be able to face it and my shame at letting it go and play again.

Anyway, after the theatre my sister and I dropped the parents off at their hotel then went back to mine where we just went to bed. I admit I was a bit disappointed – I wanted to talk to my sister a little bit, when the parents weren’t around, bit she was tired, and still occupied with facebooking her boyfriend.

In the morning my sister wouldn’t wake up and get ready so it was a long, boring morning waiting for her to do so. Eventually she did so and we went to pick up the parents and we went to IKEA and to the supermarket – nothing out of the ordinary. It was all right. My sister and mom wanted to shop before going to IKEA so my dad and I went to get coffee, then look at fish in the pet store ( we were both disappointed to find that there was no PCWorld (technology store) or the like we could look around but the pet store was not a bad alternative and certainly better than being dragged around clothes stores) That was nice – my favourite bit of that day.

It was not a bad weekend with my parents overall– not as bad as I feared it may have been.

They left in the early afternoon on Sunday and I moped about until bed time. I really should have done more work as I have some major deadlines coming up. The first is this Thursday for my big coursework and I’m still not done -and my circuit doesn’t even work so I’m going to lose a bunch of marks for not meeting the specifications. I admit, I was disappointed. On Saturday I was so happy with the results, but I was talking to my friend today and he went through it and everything he did was totally different , and made much more sense and worked. I felt oddly hurt. I’d spent so much time on my circuit, so why? Yeah, I felt pretty stupid. “I’m not a good engineer,”I laughed, tried to make a joke of it, but I was irrationally hurt. In the car with my family my sister remarked “me and daddy are waiting for you to get rich cath” and she laughed, and my dad smiled but I knew neither of them were truly joking. I’ve been in university for four years already and I’m still not done – I know I’m a financial burden on my family by this point. I have been aware for a while now that I need to start work – and there is a financial element to it. I think about the engineering jobs and their salaries. But… I’m struggling to get work and its already making me feel down. So that comment hit a nerve. I do not want to be reminded of my failure to get work. I especially dislike the way my father agreed – after telling me just a few hours earlier that he didn’t mind I was probably not going to work this summer. I do feel a bit of a failure right now, as detailed in so many posts before. I feel extremely worried that I’m not a very good engineer, that I’m not particularly suited or “made” for the career I have chosen. There’s so much pressure to succeed isn’t there though? There’s no room for doubt. This is the career I have chosen so I have to stick with it, and hope that someone will eventually hire me and I’ll be able to grow into the sort of engineer I want to be – competent, capable, confident. And earning lots of money so I can repay my dad and my sister for everything they’ve ever given me. I wish they’d just wait a little longer.

I wish I didn’t feel this guilt for being so unsure, so childish right now. I know I’m 22 but surely I’m still allowed to feel uncertain?

“I wait for the even more dazzling days to come”

Spring seems to be making its arrival here in the UK. The weather is lovely right now – although its still chilly, the sun is out, and my university campus looks very cheerful now with all the spring flowers coming up. I’m glad not to have to bundle up when getting dressed any more- I walked home in just jeans and a t shirt earlier. Its a little brighter too – so its not too gloomy when I walk home. It’s refreshing.

University is strange right now – I feel like I’ve fallen into a bit of funk. Its like, I don’t really feel as if I’m at university right now. I’ve only got three modules, so I only have three lectures a week, all in the afternoon. That and two group project meetings. Plus a whole day for my business module once a week. I’m left with a lot of free time and I’m not managing it very well right now. Its so easy to sleep, and watch dramas, and read until the early hours of the morning instead. Especially since my lectures are in the afternoon. Its my own willpower required to get me up in the mornings and I do not have a lot of that to spare right now. Hence, why it doesn’t feel like university. I feel very detached from the things I need to get done. I feel very detached from things full stop. I think I may have burnt out last semester. All that anxiety and unhappiness, carried over from a whole year of it, and now I’m retreating, withdrawing. I’m not quite giving up, but I feel like I’m definitely wavering.

I’ve got two pieces of coursework due for my business module and I am 1000 words under the word count for both. I have managed to make some progress on a huge piece of coursework I have due in next week for another module, except that’s stalled now as I’m having problems with it and I’m worried I will not be able to finish it. I do not understand what I am doing, really, which makes it very difficult and time consuming. I gathered up courage and asked my lecturer for help the other day and he spent a good while trying to make me understand – but its not working out still which only increases my anxiety, and makes me put it off more. My thesis draft for my group project is due in less than a month and I haven’t even begun writing up the section I am supposed to do. I’m very bored of my group project,so even knowing how much it is worth in terms of my average I am struggling to motivate myself with it. My progress in Japanese is all over the place – I seem to be taking 10 steps back for every step I take forward with it. I have an exam coming up for it and I do not even want to think about it. Its very frustrating but I’m struggling to find the willpower to make the necessary changes. I’ve eased myself into a very relaxing state of being, or rather non-being, which is much more enjoyable than studying all the time. Its so much easier not do anything. To escape to dramas or books or the internet.

I’m supposed to be setting myself up with a good routine now and I have failed miserably at it and its getting me down. Every day I tell myself tomorrow I will do better, but that tomorrow never comes. I mean, I do have some good days where I can wake up at a decent time and get things done, and my eating is improving. However I’m mostly having bad days where I sleep in late and then just chill out for the rest of the day, putting things off until its “too late” to do them and although I am eating more and better- its still not structured enough which makes it more difficult setting up good eating habits. The more I fail, the more I struggle to motivate myself to improve.

I find myself thinking I want things to be easy, now. I question -why can we only gain things through hard work and suffering? Its juvenile but I think to myself that’s so unfair. And, of course, I wonder – what am I working towards? Just what have I gained through working so hard? The future and the dreams I’m working towards are still so far away, and uncertain. I feel restless and eager for change, even as I am terrified of it. I feel overwhelmed by thoughts of the future, but a certain keenness for my dreams to be realized already. Mostly I feel so aware that all my peers are moving forwards whilst I am not. I feel jealous of their success, childish again but I am helpless to it.

I know I need to be patient. I need to focus on the now. Take every day as it comes – and try my best to make each day worthwhile. Oh, thats cheesy isn’t it? But its true? There’s no use ruminating over the past or the future, when right now there’s so much that needs to be done. But even knowing this, I’m still unable to move forward, no matter how much I know I need to.

“We are all going forward. None of us are going back.”

I cannot be the only one slightly startled at the sudden arrival of March? I know I say this often, but where on earth is time going? Someone once told me that university goes by in a flash, and it does seem to be turning out that way.

On Wednesday my father was in the area so he came to visit me. He arrived 3 hours earlier than he said – at which point I was on the bus coming home. It made me a little flustered to have no time to get myself or my house ready and to know he was there waiting whilst I was on the bus, which could take as much or little time as it wanted to get anywhere. (Typically, there was traffic and the bus stopped at every stop which only increased my anxiety.) Anyway, I got home and then we hung out for a bit – I made him some coffee and we chatted and it was a little awkward for a little while but then we made plans to go to IKEA before getting food and once we had a plan most of the awkwardness faded. I do not know why I feel so awkward around my father?

I guess lately I have been wondering – am I too close, too dependent on my family? Am I burden on them, because I am so shy and withdrawn, and therefore rely on them? I am acutely aware that I probably am too dependent on my family. At this age, I should be shifting my support network to a boyfriend or friends right? But I still find the first people I turn to are my sister and my father. I do not want to bother them and I don’t want to be a burden and yet, I need them to be there for me. Its probably selfish, isn’t it. I feel like such a burden to everyone – family, friends. I wish I could cut all ties and be independent – but I am not in a place financially or emotionally for it. Emotionally, I do not think I could ever be totally alone. I do not want to be totally alone. At the same time being around people can make me so anxious and can make me feel so bad about myself. I always, always feel like I’m bothering people and that they would rather be elsewhere.

Nonetheless it was pretty fun at IKEA – I admit, I love going around IKEA. I love dreaming of my future home – wall to wall bookcases, a big, beautiful kitchen with a fancy oven, walls filled with pictures, paintings and mementos of my travels. On one hand I dream of travel – leaving everything behind and going here for a couple years, there for a few years, another place, always new. On another I dream of a home – a place I can settle into and make my own. (I think ideally I’d like something in between – to travel occasionally, but to always have a place to come back to.) After IKEA we went to Nandos and embarrassed ourselves by not knowing how the system works – apparently you order at the desk, and get your own cutlery. Shows how often we go there! But the food was nice anyway. We went to the supermarket next, then back home. Before he left, my dad quickly made up some storage for me and helped hang up some pictures.

I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to settle into this house – I’m only here for a short while, but at the same time I do want it to feel comfortable. So I put up some noticeboards (well, my dad did), which I stuck up some pictures and some revision notes. I hung up a couple of calligraphy prints up on one wall. I then put some more pictures into frames and put them on my windowsill. Pictures of my sister and I on my 15th birthday, when she took me to see Dir en Grey, my father and I at the summit of a hill, I am pale and thin, but managing to smile nonetheless, pictures of Japan, a picture of Cape town, my family in front of Victoria falls, my sister and I laughing in the middle of the jungle in Thailand, totally relaxed because we do not know we were being photographed (I love that picture – I am usually awkward in pictures, but as I was not aware of the camera, I am actually smiling) It’s nice to have these things to look at – to have these beautiful memories there, in reach, something to hold onto.

I’m not feeling OK still but I can feel myself starting to feel hope that everything is going to be OK again – which is a good enough feeling. I was so scared, so anxious and so terrified of what that means. But I’m really getting stuck into my CBT now and everything has been put into perspective, and I’m working through it, and it takes the edge off it. I had another appointment with the psychologist this week and I have a plan of action now. Its really difficult – I have to try and create a routine, so to eat regularly. Bt I’m trying, I’m going to try.

Now, if only uni would go better. I have no idea, still, what is going on with two of my modules – and just 20 days until coursework is due for one of them. My group and I also have to start putting together our thesis, and I’m not sure how that’s going to turn out. I’ve also started my last module which is a business focused module which involves a 9am-5pm workshop involving group work and presentations and writing business reports afterwards and I don’t even know. I had the first on Thursday and it was not fun and I have two more sessions for it coming up and I am dreading it.

I’m really not enjoying university at all right now. I’m tired and I’m bored and at the same time, so anxious. I’ve just got to keep trying to move forward though.

Post Title: Richard Siken - Snow and Dirty Rain

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