Sunday 23 April 2017

Life Lately

Life seems so busy at the moment, between work and home and my busy staring-at-the-cat schedule, that I haven't always had the chance to blog as regularly as I'd like. Not that I think I, or any blogger, has a duty to keep to a schedule, but I do like to keep a record of what's going on in my life here. So, what have I been up to?

We've had some big celebrations in our house recently, with Thomas accepting an offer of a full-time, permanent lecturer role here in Leicester, and me an offer of a place on the Gender Studies MA at Leeds University. I'll be starting in September on a part-time basis, travelling up once a week for lectures and seminars. Meanwhile, the fact that Thomas has a job locally - and, more to the point, a permanent, well-paid job - takes the pressure off for the next few years. As he's only one year post-PhD, we feel very lucky (although his hard work and amazing talent have more to do with it than luck).

I'm really excited about starting the Masters - it's a course I've wanted to study for years and I spent the last few years of teaching saving like mad so I could afford the fees - but I'm apprehensive too. Nervous about the workload and the travel, the new people, the pressure I can tend to put on myself in academic situations (and my corresponding tendency to give up on anything I find too challenging).

Somewhat linked to this is that since the start of the year I've been challenging myself to do things that scare me and as a result my anxiety has been both debilitating and something I feel like I'm getting a handle on. Often in the same day. A lot of what I've been doing isn't big stuff - 'just' things like driving to a new place, or being the one who goes to the bar to order food - and I'm not always being successful, but I do feel like I'm making progress. I've also started being more open with friends about my mental health instead of pretending that everything's fine, which has been a massive relief.
Finally, travel-wise I feel like we're all over the place at the moment (in a good way).

I spent a really nice couple of days away this week, visiting Bath, Wells and Glastonbury with a friend. We pretty much ate and drank our way around Somerset: from afternoon tea to local cider to Glastonbury pasties, we tasted it all.

Now Thomas is in Wales, hiking and camping with a friend, before we head off to Barcelona next weekend, which will be a challenge to my travel anxiety but, I'm sure, a lovely trip. Then in May I have trips to London to release my inner rock chick at a Deftones gig, to Bradford to see my mum, and to Nijmegen to hang out with Thomas's friends for a long weekend.

What's new with you?

17 comments:

  1. Hey,
    I brought your zine from vampire sushi distro. Ive often thought about my obsessive teen adoration of kurt / nirvana in a chicken and the egg way with my depression. I definitely think the music "encouraged" me to wallow in my sadness!

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    1. Yeah the chicken/egg analogy is exactly right. I wouldn't have connected so much to the music if I hadn't already been sad, but it for sure made me wallow in that sadness.

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  2. SO many exciting things happening, congrats to you both! Barcelona is bound to be amazing, I do know something of the stress of travel/short breaks especially but everything crossed for you to have a fun trip! It's good to have friends you can let your guard down with. For me that is usually with very old friends only so it can be hard. Enjoy London and you other adventures as well! :-)x

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    1. Thank you! Yes it definitely takes me a long long time to let me guard down but I'm trying to learn how to be vulnerable with friends and realising that doesn't make me weak.

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  3. Sounds like you're definitely on the cusp of a new chapter my love, and I'm so glad you've found people you can be open with right as you're about to embark on a whole new adventure with the course. I think we have very similar personality types, so I can guess the temptation to pile too much pressure on yourself will be hard to resist - so please keep writing, keep talking and keep showing yr anxiety that YOU are the boss of IT.

    Lis / last year's girl x

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    1. Thank you, I need to hear this! And yes this is definitely a good time for me to be opening up more with people, otherwise it's going to make the next couple of years difficult.

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  4. Glad I'm not the only one who hates going to the bar to order food - no idea what it is I hate about it so much, but I'm glad we had Elise with us that time we all met up!

    Congratulations (again) on all the good news - I'm looking forward to hearing how it all works out. x

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    1. Haha I love any excuse to chat to randomers! Well, I do now that I no longer work in customer service, cause people are exhausting when you have to be nice to them all ;)

      Yay for all the exciting news! Your mini break sounds awesome, I need more scones in my life...

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    2. Isn't it weird? Going up to a bar is such a specific thing that I'm stuck on: I especially hate it when it's busy, which makes sense, but I'm trying to make myself do it when it's quieter so I can be less useless when in bars!

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  5. Congratulations to you both on the job and the masters.
    So much going on, and lovely things too - travel and exploring and adventures. And good on you for challenging your anxiety, and for being more open about it, small steps can led to great places. I get all inside my own head if I have to drive in an unfamiliar place, especially if I have people in the car. I don't mind ordering food, but getting drinks from the bar? Ugh zero bar presence, it makes me so uncomfortable.

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    1. Thank you! I'm really excited for what the next couple of years have in store. And isn't ordering from a busy bar THE worst? I've been known to cry with frustration, haha!

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  6. Posts like these. Yes. So much to say to this. Gimme personal insight over promotional material all the days. That's fabulous news for you and T, I'm so psyched that you're actually doing the masters thing you've talked of for so long, hurrah! Also, I feel like we chase each other around the country, you stop at many of my favourite places last month I went Wells, west to Wells, east within the same week, cathedrals, walks and food galore. With that in mind, can I pick your brain for a good city/town to visit in Netherlands that is easy to get to, isn't Amsterdam, and has suitable vegan food options? Ta!

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    1. Excellent timing, because our friend from the Netherlands is visiting us at the moment! So I've just asked him and he suggests Den Haag (The Hague) for vegan food - it has a vegetarian butcher, a great vegan snack bar, plus lots of other vegan options. It's also got interesting museums and some really pretty corners, too. We love Nijmegen, where Thomas used to live, but it's a 90 minute journey from Amsterdam and not necessarily the prettiest place in the Netherlands, but there are again good vegan options there (I wrote about it here: https://jbistheinitial.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/welcome-to-nijmegen.html). And finally I really loved s'-Hertogenbosch (colloquially Den Bos), which is so pretty and quaint.

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  7. Well done for challenging yourself! It's so hard to do, and sometimes it feels like it's not worth the effort (well, in my experience anyway), but it sounds like it's really been worthwhile for you. Little things do add up, don't they? I'm sure it'll make a big difference when you start your Master's.

    Happy travels. :)

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  8. So many good things Janet, I am so pleased! It's hard when you have anxiety over things! Every 'little' challenge is very big and you are doing some 'big challenges'!!x

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  9. Hi, this is my first comment, although I really like reading your blog and especially the instagram willoughbybooks in search of new book titles to discover :)
    However, I am commenting here just to let you know that I am doing a MA in History (distance learning, as I am Italian and I live and work full time in Italy). And I just wanted to let you know that this is a fantastic challenge and you will have the time of your life :) So, well done! And please go on with posting your readings (thanks for Elly Griffiths, by the way)...

    PS and sorry for my english. for some weird motive my colloquial English is not as good as my academic writing

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