Life Changing Moments & Pinnacle Points

I want to use this blog as a self-reflection post, to share with you my life changing moments & pinnacle points, in particular, the moments that are most recent to me. I aim to inspire, motivate and enthuse you to do the things in life that will help you grow and develop as a person. By getting out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself to the max makes you realise things about yourself you may have never seen before.

Pinnacle Point One: Travelling

Of course, number one is travelling, hasn't everyone been to Bali this year? I went to South-east Asia this summer for 2 months. But, before I get into the nitty gritty part of my blog, I want to clear a few things up... Expectations. From my experience, the word ‘travelling’ has a lot of expectations placed on it. I think when you say ‘you've been travelling’, some people think you were living in the bush for 6 months or years and if you didn't go for that long, you're viewed as a 'weak' traveller. But, who determines what travelling is anyway? At the end of the day, the definition of travelling doesn't have a set date or place attached to it, so the definition of travelling should be open to how you view your experiences of hopping around different countries/states or cities. The moral is – travelling is something you should do for you - travel where you want to go and for as long as you wish, at the end of the day, it’s all about the outcome, the people you meet along the way and the different, amazing things you experience.

Before I went travelling, I was both a nervous wreck, and an excitable bunny! I think I was nervous and excited because everything was going to be new; I didn't know what I was going into, whether I would be ok living away from my home comforts, family, boyfriend and friends for such a long time AND deal with the time difference. All of these unknown answers to the many questions in my head did make me feel anxious, but at the same time, this was the exciting part of travelling – not knowing what to expect.

My travelling agenda started in Thailand, then to Singapore, to Bali, and finished in Hong Kong. If and when I say 'we', I travelled with two of my best friends who I have known for all of my life - we had the best time, learning a lot about each other! But, at times we did bicker, which was hard yet it did teach me a lot about myself. One thing I learnt was that I wasn't very head strong before I went. For example, if I thought something was wrong, or I didn't want to do something I would be persuaded or I wouldn't voice my opinion enough to be heard or taken seriously. But now, I voice my opinion and manage my choices a lot better which helps me feel motivated and stronger. Another huge learning curve, is that I feel a lot more relaxed and free spirited! What I mean by that is ‘I go with the flow’ (a lot more than I did before). If you knew me before, I liked to have plans set in stone and be organised to the tee, having the itinerary nailed down in my head. Now, I feel I am much better at adapting to plans changing and spontaneity etc. For example, we did really 'go with the flow' when we travelled to Nusa Lembongan off the cuff, without any accommodation (I think everyone who lives away/travels ends up doing something unexpected)... It got to 9pm, where we still didn't have any accommodation; all of the homestays were full!! With the hope and courage in us girls, we managed to find a place to stay last minute (I genuinely thought we would have had to sleep on a sun-bed somewhere)! The moral of the story and to sum it up is that I am a lot more relaxed with things not going to plan and improvising which I think is a really good trait to have, and I can already see that it is helping me deal with the hectic life of final year at University.

All in all, I want to recommend travelling to anyone because it challenges you in ways you would never have thought. The culture and people are very different so you are dealing with language barriers, politeness differences, new foods, different clothes, comforts and different behaviours. But, these differences aren’t just influenced from the natives, it’s from the people you meet as well, those from all around the world. I met people from Germany, Canada, Australia, America, Singapore, China, Mexico, Taiwan and the list just goes on. Some of the people you meet are some of the nicest people you might ever meet, who teach you a lot about your life and inspire you to do a lot more with it. Hence, why I would like to travel the world and see a lot more of different places! I think you should take every moment as it comes and grab each opportunity before you're too late - use these moments and opportunities to push yourself in the right direction and that step closer to achieving your goals.

Buck up the courage and jet off somewhere, who knows what will happen, who you might meet and what memories you will make.

Pinnacle Point Two: University

Where do I start? Friends. I think one thing university has taught me, plus the travelling and work placement is to realise and notice the friends you have those at home and university. You meet so many people at university, some who you get on with like a house on fire, and others who you don’t. University is a strange one, because you are technically forced to live with people who you haven't met before, not knowing anything about them, their background, their interests, their course, nothing. But, if you don’t place expectations on your friendships/relationships you get to know the real person a lot better. I think everyone has highs and lows, especially when it comes to friendships because it is the first time, really, when you are exposed to so many different types of people, all with different morals, ideas, opinions, behaviourisms, interests, backgrounds, and personalities. Here, you might meet a really good group of friends and some people just simply don't, but that's ok. I think uni has made me realise that you genuinely don't have to be friends with everyone, some people might like you for who you are and others may not, but that's ok too (before I was 21, it used to really hurt me when I thought someone didn't like me because I felt I had done something wrong or upset them, which isn't something I  want to do). Fortunately for me, at uni, I am really lucky to have met such a great group of friends from both my course and accommodation. I live with great people now and have a great network of friends from different courses, who are from all across the UK and all with different stories to tell. Therefore, this uni experience, looking at the friendship side of it, has made me realise that you don't need to be liked by everyone, but as long as your friends, your true friends, are by your side supporting you and making you laugh when times are bad, that's all that matters – and I am lucky enough to say that I have made friends for life during my time at university.

Pinnacle Point Three: Work Placement

Taking a year in industry situates you in a crowd of people who are all much more experienced and know a lot about the job they do, which can be quite overwhelming (but that's normal). Luckily for me, I worked with a very supportive team who helped me grow as an individual. They gave me many different opportunities for example, getting to go abroad to Frankfurt and Budapest to support corporate events. I ran their social media and had the freedom to share ideas and perform them too - it wasn't just a note in their notepads, they actively wanted me to grow and develop the internship further, which also helped grow my confidence in the ideas I had. Hence, why I feel I managed to gain a lot from this year out; providing me with opportunities I would never have thought I would have been given, meeting such supportive and great friends who I will keep in touch with throughout my career. They helped me believe I can achieve my goals and that my ideas are valuable in this world, making me feel like I had a place in their company. This confidence boost in my ideas and writing capabilities was something I really needed because I do find university challenging, which has broken my confidence in academia. Therefore, going away into the workplace has managed to fill that gap and encouraged me to believe that I can blog and I can do the things I want to do in life - life isn't all about being a high achiever in education. I was extremely lucky to get the internship and appreciate the opportunity so much, thus I would recommend taking a year out of uni when you can, whether it's a year in industry or a study abroad because you have the opportunity to grow and see many different sides to you that you wouldn't have seen before (your maturity levels go through the roof). Plus, everyone I know who have taken a year out of uni to either study abroad or work have all said how good they feel; mentally, and ready to start third year in a happy, motivated mind set.

Moral of Pinnacle Points

These big stages have changed the way I view life for the better. And I do think self-reflecting on life is good for you, so why not try it if you haven’t already? You might realise things about yourself and remember some pinnacle points that have helped you become a better person. There’s always time to try new things, change and adapt while you’re growing and exposing yourself to so many different networks, people, and institutions.

Kristina x