Thursday, 8 March 2018

Women Who Truly Do Run the World

March 08, 2018 0 Comments
Happy International Women's Day 2018!!
***

Feminism and so-called "Femi-nazis" has been a pretty hot topic in recent years. The courageous and historical fight for gender equality has become something to be ridiculed by many. It is important to understand that feminism as a movement is about EQUALITY of all genders and not about females being on top. The movement is as much for men and any other gender as it is for women - a statement which, as a feminist, I feel very strongly about. 

Unfortunately, equality between genders has not yet been achieved throughout the world. Young girls are still being told they have no right to education, being married off and forced to have children as soon as they get their first ever period in many countries all over the world. The fight is still relevant - these girls deserve justice. 

The world is full of inspirational women and men alike. There are hundreds of amazing people in the world who deserve to be recognised and applauded. We are getting closer and closer to living in a world of equality and I have compiled a list of six inspirational women who proved that they truly do run this world. 

Millicent Fawcett
Often an under-appreciated member of the suffragette movement, Millicent Fawcett was a tireless campaigner who encouraged peaceful protest to get the message across. In modern day, Fawcett is considered instrumental in gaining the woman's right to vote and, for that, we are eternally in her and the rest of the suffragettes debt. Ladies, don't skip on elections, practice your right to vote for all the women who fought before you.

Marie Curie
When people hear the name "Marie Curie" it is likely that their minds immediately flit to cancer or radiology. Although Marie Curie's research made astonishing impact on how we treat cancer patients today, the research is much  more than that. She is often referred to as the First Lady of Science for persevering and carrying on her research despite heavy criticism from society telling her that science was not for women. Since then, women have accomplished incredible things in science - if it wasn't for Marie Curie, this may not have been the case. 

Amelia Earheart
Amelia Earheart is another woman to do something which, at the time, was "not for women". In 1932, Amelia Earheart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean alone. Throughout her life, Amelia was ridiculed and frowned upon for not acting a "ladylike manner" and pursuing her dreams. She proved she can and she will and has gone down in history - proof that we truly can do anything we set our mind to. 

Irene Morgan
In a time of extreme racism and racial segregation, Irene Morgan refused to give up her seat. Something so simple but something so great. The laws in Virginia at the time stated that buses be segregated by "coloured and white". Irene was sat in the assigned "coloured" area but was told to move when a white citizen got on and no "white seats" were available. Upon refusal, Irene was arrested. This simple act inspired others to act in the same manner, Rosa Parks, for instance. Irene's story was vital in the on-going fight for racial equality - a fight that continues today.

Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama - ex-first lady, mother, wife, feminist and all round good egg. Arguably one of the biggest influencers for women's rights and equality; especially with education. Her "Let Girls Learn" initiative fights to give girls in the developing world the right to education and has dramatically changed the way many countries view their women.

Emma Watson
In recent years, Emma Watson has become somewhat of a feminist icon, from speeches and initiatives at the United Nations to hand on action in developing countries - this girl does it all. Her social media influence is immense, encouraging young people all over the world to join the fight for equality. "I want my future daughter to know that she is a force to be reckoned with and never to underestimate her own power" : advice we could all learn from.

I leave you with one final question... Who run the world?




Saturday, 6 January 2018

Five Steps to Achieving Happiness in 2018

January 06, 2018 0 Comments
And just like that, 2017 has been and gone. It feels like only yesterday that I was waking up feeling a little worse for wear on New Year's morning 2017. And here I am again, a year later, in the exact same situation, regretting the night before. New Year's Eve is one of my favourite holidays of the year and one that I like to spend with friends rather than family. This year, me and two of my girl friends from university travelled up to Birmingham for another uni friends' party. Having never spent a new year's more than a few miles from home this was quite a big deal to me but, nevertheless, an experience I was excited for. The night was filled with fun, new people, music, dancing and maybe a few too many ciders - all in all, one of the best New Year's Eve's I have had. 

New Year's Eve 2017 in Birmingham

Traditionally, the coming of a new year calls for a re-evaluation of yourself and your life and to make goals for the next twelve months. This is a tradition I love to partake in as I am always eager to better myself and overcome my challenges to gain a sense of achievement. However, in the past I have been known to push myself too far, to make myself achieve the unachieveable, letting my mental health and physical well-being deteriorate in the process. Because of this, my number one goal this year, above and beyond anything else, is to achieve happiness. I am determined not to let myself get caught up in achieving if it will lead to stress and general unhappiness. A sense of achievement is great but you shouldn't feel crappy about yourself for not achieving some of your goals. 

With that being said, this year I have sat myself down and set five "achievable", no-strings-attached goals for the upcoming year. Small steps toward the long road to happiness that I believe will help me to become a happier and healthier person in 2018. 

1 - Dedicate Some Time to Yourself
Since starting at university, I have found myself overwhelmed at times from a busy lifestyle filled with essays, lectures, reading, parties, sports clubs - you name it. Being the anxious person that I am, it is important for me to dedicate some time to myself to just relax and ground myself to avoid becoming burnt out and over anxious. This year, I want to set some designated time aside each week to just be in my own company and de-stress.

2 - Read More Books for Fun
As a child, I was one of the biggest bookworms around - I forever had my nose stuck in a book and would get from cover to cover in the blink of an eye. However, ever since I started studying for my GCSEs all those years ago in 2013, I have very much been in a reading lull - only getting through maybe 2 or 3 books a year. I want 2018 to be the year that I change that and have decided to take part in the 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge to try and get myself back into a mindset of enjoying novels. 

3 - Learn to be Happy on Your Own
The last three years have been emotionally exhausting when it comes to relationships to say the least. Having fallen in love and out of love for the very first time, as well as many meaningless flings that have left me feeling numb, I find myself in a situation where I don't know how to be single. I'm struggling to learn to be happy on my own - a skill that I know is vital if there is any hope of another long-term relationship in the future. This is a goal which I have already started to work towards in the last few months of 2017. I have turned down men who I know aren't right for me without the overwhelming fear of being alone in the back of my mind, I enjoy hanging out with my single girlfriends on the regular, I'm loving life and I really hope this continues into 2018.

4 - Stop Being Lazy with Yoga
Last June, I began my yoga journey and started practicing daily using free videos on YouTube. I loved it and genuinely thought I had found my thing, I was so excited to get to Winchester and join the Yoga society straight away to continue my yoga development. Unfortunately, when I got to Winchester I found out that the yoga group had been disbanded and I was gutted but knew that I could carry on using the online video in my bedroom. Towards the end of the ear, however, my practice has greatly declined and I have no explanation as to why other than LAZINESS. In 2018, I want to get back into the yoga routine and continue to develop my postures and poses. Yoga is great for both a healthy body and a healthy mind - both of which will help to improve my overall happiness in 2018.

5 - Study Hard, Party Hard
University is all about making new memories, having new experiences and learning to take life's challenges face on, on your own. This semester, I intend on be more on top of my work and studying hard to get results to the best of my ability. However, as important as studying is, I really want to balance it out with as much partying and fun as possible (without forgetting and getting behind on my studies!) University is as much about the social life as it is about the degree - a fact that I don't plan on forgetting any time soon. 

Happy 2018 to you all! I hope your year is full of opportunities and fabulous memories.


                       
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Monday, 18 December 2017

Have You Not Met Anyone Yet?

December 18, 2017 0 Comments
2017 begins to draw to a close and it's officially the end of my first ever semester at university! Assignment week last week had me moving in permanently to the library and after a very stressful few days, I am so thankful to be back in my own town, my own home and my own bed. Being home has made me feel especially Christmas-sy, with decorations being put up and family from near and far making appearances. It's such a lovely feeling to be able to relax and enjoy myself without the stress of outstanding coursework looming. 

Those of you who know me will know that I have been single for a little over six months now and I am thoroughly enjoying focusing on myself and my self-love. However, as lovely as being at home for Christmas is, the extra family members and extra love that's flying around the place came with those awkward little questions.

"Any men on the scene, Mhairi?"

"Surely, you've found yourself a handsome, young fella down in Winchester?"

"How's the love life?"

"Have you not met anyone new yet?"
  
This being the first Christmas I have been single for for a while, the questions took me by surprise to say the least. What am I supposed to answer to that? "No, Auntie Rachel, I don't have a boyfriend, but I do rather enjoy a drunken snog every once in a while!" Somehow, I can't see this going down too well, it was clear that I needed to have something scripted for this sort of awkward encounter over the festive period. 

I thought about lying, fabricating this dream boat I had hiding down in Winchester just to avoid the tragic-ness that is my single-dom. However, I decided against this option due to the likelihood of people asking to see pictures, or messages or (GOD FORBID) meet this fragment of my imagination. No, that was not the way to approach this one. 



It dawned on me that, despite feeling so crappy and alone sometimes, there was actually nothing to be ashamed of by being single, especially at my age. I'm only nineteen for Christ's sake! As I said earlier, I am greatly enjoying learning to love myself and put myself first for once. No longer am I having to work around two schedules when it comes to planning my week, I don't have to think about anyone else if I want to run off and do something spontaneous and reckless. I am enjoying my freedom, this new found love of myself and, most importantly, the extra time I am spending with those people that have always been there and always will, "my day ones". I am loving getting drunk and silly with my friends, dancing the night away to trashy music in the student union without the worry of what the other half might think. I am enjoying having movie nights and sleepovers on the daily with people I had been turning down in favour of spending the night with my partner. 

After a lot of contemplating, I came to the conclusion that I was not ashamed, and should anyone ask me this December where my new man is, I shall simply say. "My other half is me, I'm loving spending time with myself at the moment"

Females are strong as hell, bad-ass bitches. Why did society decide we needed anyone else to have a bright and fulfilling life? Believe in your inner Beyonce, prove that you're just fine on your own. 


Wednesday, 13 December 2017

A "Me" Weekend

December 13, 2017 0 Comments
The last two weeks at university have been tough, to say the least. With the stresses of assignment deadlines, falling deeper into the overdraft and clashes of personalities, I found myself stuck in a mental health lull, shutting myself away in my room and only coming out occasionally for food. The beautiful city of Winchester no longer seemed beautiful and exciting to me and, instead, seemed grey, dull and 100% not where I wanted to be. It came to one dreary Thursday evening when an argument with a peer tipped me over the edge and I found myself sobbing down the phone to my mother begging her to come get me in the middle of the night, take me home and never let me go to university again. In my mind, everything was over, this life I had chosen for myself was all wrong and I just wanted out. 


And that's how I ended up back here, in my small hometown in Buckinghamshire, surrounded by family, friends and, most importantly, my beloved Irish Terrier, Murphy. I spent the weekend watching movies, catching up on assignments and getting some much needed TLC from my family. I caught up with old friends who encouraged me that it was all going to be alright and that I was loved by so many people. This weekend has been just what I needed to keep me going and working toward the degree that I love. 


Despite the confidence boost, however, I am utterly and completely dreading going back. The thought of being back to feeling so lonely and hurt in my draughty little room terrifies me. But, this weekend has reminded me that home is just a train ride or a phone call away and if I'm finding it too difficult, it's never too long until the next visit home. University is full of friends and people who love me- something I need to remind myself more often. Instead of focusing on the bad, I am learning to focus on the good. I live in a beautiful city, with friends all around me, doing a degree that will let me do the career I have dreamed of. It's because of this that I'm forcing myself to keep going, the bad days can only be followed with good.

Wednesday, 22 November 2017

Things I Learnt In My First Semester of University

November 22, 2017 0 Comments

Those of you who know me will know that this September I became a first year or "fresher" at the University of Winchester, studying Events Management. For me, as with many others, this was a bit of a shock to the system, from becoming "independent" to independent. I put the first independent in quotation marks because, when living at home with your parents, you think you're Miss Independent and can survive on your own. I have now learnt I was not and can not. 

Suddenly, I found myself faced with the challenges of paying rent, managing budgets, food shopping, treks to laundry (I have never felt lucky for having a washing machine at my feet at home before now) whilst also battling assignments, subject reading, meeting new people and moving across the country. 

As well as course content, naturally, I found myself learning a plethora of "life skills" and other tidbits of knowledge that I will never need anywhere else other than higher level education. I have comprised this down to a list of what I think the most important lessons I have learnt in my first semester of university.

1 - Freshers Flu is Very Real 
You know when you're older sibling or friend from the year above tells you how ill you're going to get when you first turn up to university and you just laugh it off and say "not me"? Yeah, they were 100% correct. Being the incredibly lucky person I am, I developed a cold two weeks prior to university and, therefore, essentially turned up with freshers flu. Nine weeks, two rounds of antibiotics and a chest x-ray later and I am still coughing away.

2 - Pre-Drink Just Enough
Pre drinking. A concept adopted by university students all over the world as a way of making a night out just that cheaper. The idea is buying cheap booze from a supermarket and necking it before you go to save you money on buying drinks when out. However, KNOW YOUR LIMITS! A mistake I have made on many occasions, where I have downed way more than I know I can handle and have ended up either not making it out or being thrown out of the club for being drunken and disorderly (in my defence this has only happened twice in Winchester). The moral of the story is - drink enough to save money but not an amount that'll make your night end early.

3 - Give Yourself Some "Me Time"
Within a few weeks of moving to Winchester, I found myself flooded with assignments, extra reading and notes to type out and I found it somewhat overwhelming. There were moments when I thought "what the hell have I gotten myself into, I'm way over my head here" - there are still moments now that I convince myself I'm quitting. The importance and significance of "me time" becomes ever more prevalent here. So, go on, make a cuppa, put on a Kardashian's repeat and some fairy lights and relax. 

4 - Your Flatmates Might Not Be Your Family - That's OK
Before starting university, you imagine your flatmates and how close you will all be and it's exciting. In reality, as I found, this may not be the case. My flat are lovely, don't get me wrong, but they are not the family I had hoped for. When it comes down to it, university is full of opportunities to meet new people and make your own family. It's OK not to have a "bond-for-life" flat family, as lovely as your flatmates may be, if you don't click, you don't click and there is nothing wrong with that.

5 - UK Universities Think They're American
Sometimes I feel a little bit like I'm an extra in Legally Blonde or Sydney White or So Undercover with the way things are Americanised here. Suddenly a term becomes a "semester", football becomes "soccer" and cheer-leading becomes the predominant sport for females instead of hockey or netball. I'm unsure whether this is just my university or all universities but it's a gimmick that I am yet to grow fond of.

6 - Hills Can Replace A Gym Membership
As it turns out, my halls are at the bottom of a very steep hill and, you guessed it, my lectures and classes are at the very top of said hill. Trekking up and down this hill 3/4 times a day has really begun to get me into shape, saving me some sweet money on a gym membership that I would probably would never have used anyway. Hooray for Winchester and it's hills!

7 - Those £3/4 Coffees Add Up
"Ooh I'll just pop into Costa." Words that should not be uttered from a students mouth because TRUST ME those £3/4 add up. I'm not going to sit here and do the maths but just say you have 2 coffees a week, 52 weeks in the year...you get the picture. 

8 - BUDGET
I can not stress this enough, wrote down your budget, your weekly expenditure, factor in for emergencies (*cough* or that extra night out *cough*) and DO NOT GO OVER. This is advice that I desperately need to follow so I don't see myself sinking deeper into the hole. (Sorry Father, I'm really trying) 

And there we have it, eight lessons I never expected to learn at university but did and the end of my very first blog post.

Mhairi x