Not going to Uni - My story.

As it's that time of year, when everyone is either heading off to university, or having a slight crisis of 'What am I meant to do next?!' , or maybe you're starting your last year of formal education, and you just haven't got a clue whats the right way to go. So I thought i'd share a bit of my story on my little corner of the internet.

When in sixth form I must have gone through every single career option you could think of, at one point I even thought I was going to become a nun. (Side note - this was a moment of severe 'nobody will want me to go to their uni so i'll become a nun'). I can't even count the amount of meetings I had with my head teacher going through various different courses I could do and discussing possible future options. I genuinely thought that university was my only option, all of my friends were going and I just couldn't see how I'd get anywhere without it, I put a lot of pressure on myself and got way too stressed about it. 

As time went on I started to realise that university for me wasn't happening, so I started the search of 'Other options'. I had no idea what was out there and I was amazed when I found out! 

When speaking to a friend he told me to check out Soul61, which is a ten month gap year and leadership programme. So I spent a year with a church down in Watford, (their website is here) this took me way out of my comfort zone & had me doing stuff I never would have done before, I made friends who I know I'll keep for life. I even got to go to New Zealand and travel all around the North Island, whilst making amazing friends out there too. Honestly, I'm so grateful I got this opportunity, it was one of the  best decisions I've made. 

Once that finished I came home and started the ever dreaded job hunt. I'm gonna be honest, this part of my life was pretty bad. Job searching and getting rejected over and over can hurt, but the time in which I was unemployed I managed to do SO much. I started running a weekly youth club at my church that sees quite a lot of troubled young people coming through, really giving me a chance to do what I love and help them through such difficult times. I also found the world of youtube and blogging, so I'd never have found my own corner of the internet! 

After quite a while of hunting, my friend sent me a link to the job that I am in now, Administration apprentice with an organisation that reaches out to the community by running one of the biggest Food Banks in the North West, one of the largest Befriending services and many other things. Providing opportunities for the people nobody else cares for. I'm absolutely loving it, and I'm hopefully about to progress even more in the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed! 

It may not sound like much but if you were to tell the 17 year old me where I was in 3 years time, she'd be laughing in your face. I'm in a job that I love, that 3 years ago I thought that, first of all, I'd never have loved it, and second of all, I'd never have thought i'd be progressing this quickly! 

I hope this helps for wherever you are at in your journey! Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people who went to university. But for some of us, it's just not right! 

Thank you for reading, and if you got this far, well done! 


Abz xx