Carpe Diem!

I realise my last post was rather negative, but in the last week my outlook has seen a turnaround. I am becoming what my friend Hannah calls a ‘yes person’. Something as simple as saying ‘yes’ more often is definitely making me feel more positive about life, as after all if you open yourself up to possibilities, more opportunities come you way. This was demonstrated this weekend, and as a result reinforced the benefits of ‘carpe diem’-ing, that is, seizing the day.

The weather this summer has been typically British: wet and grey, so I was not going to miss the opportunity of catching some rays this weekend, which could potentially be the only sun we get for the rest of the summer. After a failed attempt at a croquet party at my house (an extremely underrated sport in my opinion) I very willingly accepted an invitation to a barbecue at Hannah’s house in Leeds. Normally I am reluctant to travel to Leeds as it means getting a bus. It’s not a very long journey, but the sorts of people who get on the bus to Leeds, without meaning to be rude, aren’t the most normal people in the world. But this time I decided to say yes, without hesitation, and it turned out to be one of the most fun weekend’s I’ve had in a long time, and in a way gave me back the focus I needed. So armed with scones and a bottle of Pimms I braved the journey.

My Saturday afternoon was spent just sitting in a garden with a couple of friends, a barbecue and a jug of lovely Pimms…the very definition of Summer. Sometimes there’s nothing better than sitting doing nothing with friends. There had been talk of going out later on, which I was initially unsure about, but as saying yes to the Leeds barbecue plan had turned out so wonderfully, I decided to risk it and say ‘yes’ again. We were meeting up with some of Hannah’s friends from university, people I had never met before, which provided the opportunity to make some new friends of my own. Since returning from travelling, making friends has become one of my favourite past times. I enjoy striking up conversation with strangers, as often you meet some really interesting people. In fairness, they’ll probably never be life long friends, and in fact, you’ll probably never see most of them again, but you never know… Anyway, we danced the evening away at Hi-Fi, to some soul, motown and rock and roll classics before hitting McDonalds (which I definitely regretted when I weighed myself this morning) and then home, well, Ashley’s spare room.

I had fully intended to go home the next morning, however Hannah rang to inform me that she had a spare ticket to Party in the Park, ‘Britain’s largest free pop party’ apparently. Again, my usual self would have probably said no, but hell, I was on a roll. YES. And it was great. The line up included Tinchy Strider, Jay Sean, Example, Pixie Lott, Olly Murs, The Wanted and JLS, among others. Example and Olly Murs were surprising highlights in my opinion, and of course JLS were pretty amazing. For most of the afternoon I felt very old, the average age of the people that surrounded us was probably about 15, but when JLS arrived on stage, I’m ashamed to admit that I did regress to being an over excited teenager again.

The issues I have been having recently with regards to job hunting and my life in general, are because I have been unable to choose one career to focus on. This weekend, however, made me realise that I my original career choice of radio production or something music related is definitely the way forward. It is something I can see myself being good at and really loving, which is an added bonus. Its obviously a very competitive choice so I will have my work hard, but hopefully with my new ‘yes’ mentality, I’ll make it.

My final YES of the weekend was to Chinese and pub quiz. I am embarrassed to say that despite three university degrees between us, we could only manage 16 out of 38 and failed miserably to make the required paper aeroplane. Shameful, but a lot of fun. I am definitely looking forward to saying yes more.