Hey Guys, It’s been well over a year since I finished uni. If you have been here for a while, you’ll know how nervous I was about graduation. You can read here how sad I was to close the door at the university.
A year later, I’d reflect on how I’d adjusted to this post-graduate life. You may have read my more recent post on the practical side of this what I did to get my first graduate job, but what’s it all been like?
Overall I’ve changed for the better in the last year. Waking up early is now a breeze. At uni, if I didn’t have an alarm on I’d be sleeping in way past 11 am not up before 7 am? Easy. I am generally a much more productive person. I have savings for the first time in my life, which feels bloody fantastic.
At uni, you think you are an adult, and it’s fabulous having that kind of freedom from living with your parents but this another step up again. In some ways, I’ve learnt more in 7 months at this job than I did over six years at university.
One of the best things about uni that you don’t appreciate until it’s gone is TIME. My course had very minimal time on campus with about three lectures. I juggled two part-time retail jobs alongside my studies, but these shifts were never longer than four hours long. Therefore I got very used to the luxury of time. We had all this spare time to binge-watch on Netflix shows, work on blogs, do photoshoots or waste away while hungover. Although not everyone will relate to the free time I had, it depends on how much time you spent on uni.
I never knew when bank holidays were because most of them fall when you are already of school/uni in half terms. Even the weekends didn’t matter. I didn’t always have early lectures on Monday mornings, so the Sunday night panic wasn’t a thing. I often had periods with every Thursday of Friday off, so I wasn’t limited to just Saturdays for shopping and or day trips.
This has been the hardest loose. As my hangovers are much worse now I find that it takes one full day of the weekend. Sunday I do housework and a food shop and before you know it the weekend is gone. I want time to do everything. Wishing for a full day trip every weekend, long pub lunches and beach walks but I also want to have a duvet day to binge-watch films. I need to use my weekend to focus on my blog and catch up on all the freelance admin while somehow fitting in a food shop and other chores. Most of my Sunday evenings are spent in bed stressed I didn’t get enough done with the weekend.
This is why it’s so important and useful for me to plan my time and week better. I have got way more into stationery since finishing uni which might be the wrong order. But I love a weekly planner and have got into the habit of on a Monday morning using my Mal Paper book. To outline my plans, goals and to-do list for the week all in one place which is motivating and helps to prioritise tasks. Having less time is fine; it just means being more careful with it.
I am the worst person when it comes to change. Once anything becomes my routine, I don’t want it to stop, which is a massive part of why uni ending terrified me. It probably took me about two months to settle into this job. I have been so lucky to make friends here very quickly, which helped massively. Once you get used to it, you’d find yourself missing uni less.
Love Charlotte
xxx