Money Really Doesn't Buy You Happiness

If someone told you the ending of a really good book, would you bother reading it? Probably not, so why would you want to know how your life was going to pan out?

You might have a plan; it’s good to have a plan. No one wants to be wondering around in the dark. But there’s taking it too far. I've come to a point where I realise I'm not going to get everything I have ever wanted. It’s hard to admit that I probably won't have a white convertible Audi R8.

When you're young you think that you're going to be rich and successful, then as you get older (I know I'm not exactly old!) you do come to realise that there are more important things in life. This year I have come to appreciate that.

I admit I have had a privileged upbringing and I am extremely grateful for that. Especially now I live over 100 miles away from home and have to fend for myself (do you know how expensive loo roll is!?) But it really fucks me off when people presume that we just landed in money. My parents work their fucking arses off to provide for me and my family. My dad works every single day of the year, Christmas included. You can judge me all you like, but don't ever presume my parents are lazy because I can promise you they are not. Yeah my inheritance will be generous, but I would rather have my parents live forever than to get even a penny of it.

What I'm trying to say is it’s not what you have in life, materialistic crap that you think you want. It’s the people in your life which make it worth living. I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life and it is also the first time I've had to watch my spending. I can tell you budgeting is hard for me!

So stop struggling for money and success and embrace the amazing people that surround you. Friends and family should always be more important than fame and fortune.

New Year

I should be writing essays due in a couple of weeks, but of course I’m procrastinating. My New Year’s resolution of being productive went down the drain in less than 48 hours. Well done me.

All Facebook statuses and tweets have been reflecting on last year. Either how great or terrible it was. 2012 for me started off amazing, I was happy, just turned 18. Then it went so so bad, I was single and I felt like shit. But it got better,  it actually got great. You don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy.  My summer was the best summer I have ever had.

I have never been in a better place than I am now and I would even say I am happier than I was this time last year. Everything happens for a reason, and I needed to get my heart broken to be where I am today. I have to admit with all the fun I’ve been having I have undoubtedly done long lasting damage to my liver, but I’ll worry about that another time.  As for New Year’s resolutions, of course I said I’d go to the gym more. I do every year. Why? Because I want a body like Rihanna. Will I ever look like that goddess? No probably not. But whatever. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a very large box of marks and spencer’s biscuits that are calling my name. (I never said I was on a diet.)

It's Been a While

I apologise for my lack of commitment to my blog, my life has been cray cray at the moment. Despite all the partying and drinking, uni is actually quite difficult. Why didn’t anyone warn me? It’s not just the work, which is super hard and there’s so much. It’s living alone, in the short time I’ve been here I have melted the toaster and shrunk one of my favourite jumpers. My room is a tip because my mum isn’t around to tidy it up for me, my washing up pile gets bigger every day and I now suffer from insomnia. Ooh and of course… I’m poor as fuck.

  When people went on about students being poor I never fully acknowledged it, but you can’t just ask your mum for a tenner, she’s not there. I haven’t stooped as low as Morrison’s own brand vodka yet and I refuse to smoke rollies because… well both are rank, so I only have myself to blame for having no money. I bloody wished I saved some from working in the summer, but I was an idiot and spent hundreds of pounds on god knows what. Fml.

  So I tried to look for a job, notice the word ‘tried’, yeah and failed. I applied to all the ‘cool’ places… Nandos, River Island, Topshop…. I got rejected. Then I applied to places that were slightly less socially acceptable, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays… I got rejected. So I gave up for a bit, I could have stooped lower and applied to McDonalds or Primark but I just couldn’t. (Sorry to anyone who works in those places, it’s not them, it’s me) But what the fuck, I got rejected from TGI Fridays. I felt monumentally shit after that, if they didn’t want me no one would. I started worrying about how I was going to afford to live, I was considering quitting smoking and drinking… hahahaha joke. But I was worrying, I started nicking toilet roll from the SU because I couldn’t afford it. Do not even get me started on how much toilet roll is! Luckily I finally got a job in M&S over Christmas, I don’t know where this job ranks as far as being ‘cool’ but I really couldn’t give a fuck anymore. Get me da moneyyyyy.

Mosh Pit Anyone?

This summer I managed to successfully tick off several items off my bucket list. For those who don’t know what a bucket list is: it’s a list I created after writing ‘Living Life to the Full’ and it includes everything I want to accomplish before I die. Many of the things on that list are undoubtedly common, for example sky diving, bungee jumping etc.  My main achievement this year was attending my first festival which I can honestly say was one of the best weekends of my life.

 So many people, including my entire family, laughed at me when I told them I was going to Reading festival. They told me I’d come home before the weekend was up…Well they can all do one because people seriously underestimate me. Yeah I know it’s only a festival but I made it through the entire weekend with minimal complaining, thank you very much. I mean, what’s not to love? You’re camping with all your friends, drinking all day and night and listening to great music. I even loved the mosh pits, now this time last year I didn’t even know what a mosh pit was and I’m ashamed now to admit that. At one point I was even making the mosh pits, I’m not talking about these pathetic little dancing circles at the back of the crowd. I mean the real shit, with punching, kicking and trampled people beneath your feet. They were awesome and why can’t I enjoy them? What because I wear fake hair and nails I can’t enjoy punching people to rock music? I would like to kindly request anyone that’s reading this to stop stereotyping me in to what they see and start realising that there’s a lot more than meets the eye with me. I like to listen to slipknot, I would much rather be chilling in my converse than dying in my high heels and I would rather slum it at reading festival than stay in my cosy bed. So you may think you know me, think that I’m a pretty simple person and you have me all figured out, well you couldn’t be more wrong. Because to be honest, I haven’t figured out who I want to be yet. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided.

Change

I’ve found it really hard to write a new entry on here. I’ve had a million and one ideas but with all these thoughts floating around in my head I can’t seem to write properly. There has, and is so much going on in my life, I haven’t had time to sit down and think about everything that’s happened.

Going to university means change and without sounding completely clique, change is scary. I, like many others have fear of the unknown and going to uni is literally like being thrown in at the deep end with blocks of concrete tided to your feet. I know there will be plenty of people to help me out, and eventually those blocks will be cut loose and I’ll be floating to the surface in no time but initially I’m going to be well in over my head. But change is also exciting and I look forward to being thrown in at the deep end because I’m excited to see who rescues me out.

Stop Procrastinating

It’s this time of year again; we’re slap bang in the middle of exam season. And instead of revising I choose to write mindless crap on my blog because… well it makes me happy and my next exam is English so…this counts as revision right? Mmm probably not, but I fancy a wee rant about exams. As I’m sure most of the people that read this are also going through the torturous exam process at the moment, so you can relate to my pain. Here are several points that I hate about exams:

1. Revision, ha that’s a joke why is it when you are revising, there are so many distractions just forcing you to procrastinate. A really good TV program just happens to come on and you feel obliged to watch it. Then while watching it you sit there feeling guilty for watching the TV and you don’t actually enjoy the program. Suddenly, bop-it that has been sitting on top of your wardrobe is staring at you, so you take it down and realise you are a bop-it pro and you spend a good half an hour re-living your child hood before you realise that your exam is tomorrow and you’ve wasted valuable time for being a total idiot.

2. Exams are during the summer! Not fair as there is a chance that the weather may actually be sunny for once and you have to stay inside to revise. Although luckily we live in England and to put it bluntly the weather is shit most of the time.

3. How unfair is it that you have, what like an hour, to demonstrate your amazingness in a subject in scary, stressful conditions that make you feel like you want to kill yourself. If you don’t perform in the small amount of time you’re given to impress you’re examiner that’s it, you’ve wasted a year. All I can think when going in to an exam is… “If you fail this Olivia, you’re not going to uni, you’re going to be a hobo if you fail this exam” talk about pressure. I don’t want to be a hobo.

4. Parents seem to think it’s great to put pressure on you because they’re ‘only helping’. You’re not helping by asking me every 5 minutes about my work, how much I’ve done, if I’m stressed. If you left me alone and let me get on with my revision then maybe I wouldn’t be so stressed! And they make you feel guilty for going out for half an hour to see a friend. I need my gals mum, leave it out.

5. Most people have proms and holidays planned for the end of exam celebration but for these there is a certain amount of preparation one has to do. I go on sunbeds, go the gym, go on jogs, swim and get various parts of my anatomy waxed and pruned. All this costs money and takes time. 2 things I have very little of during the exam period! Because if I want money I need a job, if I have a job then I feel guilty for working and not revising but if I have no money then, well, life is miserable! Also dieting is not something you want to be doing when you’re stressed up to the eyeballs, but even the thought of people seeing me in a bikini makes me feel sick, so slim fast is my new best friend but is probably not the most healthy thing to be doing when mentally unstable.

6. Finally after the exams and celebrations are over you have to wait for months for the dreaded results day. These months you’re floating around in limbo, your future is helplessly out of your hands, all you can do is get drunk to pass the time and numb the nerves that if you fail you will not be going to the uni you really want to go to.

So reading this I have wasted your valuable revision time and freaked you out about failing. Well get back to revising, no one wants to fail and be a hobo! Good luck and stop stressing, what happens, happens and think of all the alcohol just waiting to be consumed after your last exam. Although maybe this is just practice for all the alcohol you’re going to be drinking once you’re homeless failure.

Money Can Buy You Happiness

No shocker that I’m a materialistic person, I love shoes, clothes, handbags, cars and everything else expensive. But who doesn’t? Retail therapy always cheers my up, the smell of new clothes, the excitement when you rip the label off a new item of clothing and it’s officially yours. (I think I may have a shopping addiction) I love all of that, so I would be happy...No ecstatic if I won the lottery and had loads of money. I buy a euro millions ticket pretty much every week, sometimes two. This week I bought 5 because it was £120 million! Can you imagine? I would be in heaven. Every door in the world would be open to you with all that money, you can literally do anything you want, buy anything you want, go anywhere you want to go. How can that not make someone happy?

I understand that money can’t buy love or health. And if I’m honest I would chose love over money anyday because love is the only thing that makes me happier. But loads of money would just make life so much easier wouldn’t it?