Juggling

Hey gang! (I've been doing the 8 minute abs training thing... it's impossible to start any conversation with words other than 'hey gang' now).

So, I'm sure I've spoken about this before, but it is something that dominates in my life - and that is the art of juggling.

Now, I'm not saying that I am secretly ace at throwing multiple objects into the air and catching them again. Although I wish I was. What I mean is the art of juggling various aspects of my life - something that is slowly getting easier but I don't think will ever go away. Living at home has proven a lot harder in the juggling aspect than I ever thought it would. I assumed it would be easy to mix uni work with uni fun with uni friends with home friends and home fun and home life and work work. Man did I have it wrong! Over most of the last two terms, all I've really wanted to do is get the most out of uni, even if that means missing out on some of my homey things. I've wanted to experience things and really connect with the people who I'm going to be spending a majority of my time with over the next two years. And if i was living away from home, that really wouldn't have been an issue. However, because I was embroiled in this daily commute, it's meant that I haven't been able to meet up for spontaneous things, or just go out in the evenings when other people go out. It's also meant that my friends at home have been a lot more demanding of me than they would have been had I moved out. They expect me to have the same amount of time for me as I used to - which i just don't. I would never have expected them to come and visit me at uni had I moved there, but because I live at home they expect me to be able to go to them and for them to come to me and for me to meet up places when I already spend so much of my times on buses or trains or driving. And I hate that (not seeing them, the amount of time I spend on the road). Thankfully, we're starting to work things out now - we've arranged one day every week when we will meet up. However, even this leaves me with the short straw. One of my friends wants us to meet up in her lunch break, which I get, but it means I loose an hour out of my day just travelling to and from the meet up place. She sees it that as we only get to spend an hour of her time with her we should sacrifice that too. But she doesn't realise how busy my days can be - even the days when i only have a couple of hours of scheduled lecture or seminar time.

It's the same with my uni friends. Although they are usually more understanding about those sorts of things, when they want to go out for a night out, they don't get that I can't always come. They don't understand how expensive it is for me to get a taxi home, because they don't really understand how far away I live. Which isn't their fault, I know, but still. It just makes things complicated.

I love all my friends to bits, and I'm so willing to make time for them - I just wish they would understand that sometimes I have to be selfish because I'm paying nine grand a year for this experience.

Maintaining friendships is hard at uni. You'll see that sometimes things fall by the wayside. But if you love each other, they'll pick up. And when we do meet up, things slot back into place, its as if we still see each other everyday at high school or college.

I hope you're all well, and let me know in the comments if you've had similar experiences at uni, or if you're worried about these sorts of things.

Best Wishes!

xx