Yep, it's that time of year again when the last day of June signifies that I'm another year older. It's true what they say- birthdays really do get so much less exciting the older you get. Boo.
We pretty much have no plans and I failed to give anybody any clues as to what I wanted/needed (money? Poor student here...) so I'm not sure tomorrow is going to blow my socks off. I can barely be bothered to get myself into a birthday outfit to give myself the excuse of getting all dressed up. BUT, trying to be ever the optimist, I thought I would look not at the day itself, which after all only marks the year passing, and instead look at what I've achieved this year and what my aims are for next year (before the big 2-1... Eeeeek!).
There are three huge landmarks this year which immediately jump out at me as some of my proudest moments to date:
1. Finally getting Toffee to our first show. Sure, I fell off. Twice. In front of everyone. But we've come so far since then and just being able to get there after such a turmoil surrounding my riding life was an achievement in itself. Plus, we did get round... Eventually. And today I had the most wonderful hack on him as we cantered over the countryside. So overall, job well done. Nutty pony cured. Just kidding, that's wishful thinking but we're getting there.
2. News Editor of The Stag newspaper at uni. At the time, it was an incredible honour to be voted in and I seized the chance with both hands, throwing myself into research and emailing and generating fresh ideas. Little did I know that it probably wasn't as important as I had originally thought and it didn't bring me the university-wide fame I had envisaged. But hindsight is a beautiful thing, and also a really pessimistic thing. So whilst I can now say that I no longer I want to be a journalist and I often ended up loathing the time I had to take to complete my section, I wouldn't change it. It added to already massively high stress levels but taught me to better manage my time and balance work/commitments/me time.
3. President of the Equestrian Club. Especially with the thank you I received at the end, I have to say that this has been the highlight of this year at university. I never, ever thought this would happen. I was pushing my luck for Vice or Treasurer at the AGM, but through a change in circumstance, it kind of landed in my lap in what I can only put down to fate. To say that I have been President of the Equestrian Club is so important to me after everything I have been through with horses. It's as though it all paid off. I actually felt needed and important, and I guess I was. Best decision I ever made.
And to think at the beginning of this academic year, I was in floods of tears thinking that I couldn't juggle my degree with my other commitments, horse and all, and now I have finished with some of my best coursework marks to date, despite all the odds against me. I am capable!! This, of course, is ignoring the upcoming exam results- kill me now before I find out. But to top it all off, in the last couple of months the University of Surrey has been named eighth best university in the country by The Guardian's uni guide. It is mind blowing to think that when I was choosing universities, I told myself I couldn't even get into one of the top 20, let alone the top 10. And now I can proudly say that I go to a top 10 university. I'd say that's pretty damn good.
Of course, there's the little things too: I'm finally becoming a better, confident rider; I've cultivated seriously special friendships which I know will last for years and years to come (you know who you are girls!); I've met Lawson (still holding out for one of them to propose to me, I know they'll come back for me soon); I experienced the best Colours Ball yet; and there are so many more, I'm not going to list them. But how can I complain about one day when really that day is just a celebration of the amazing year that I've had?
So, to round off this now positive pre-birthday post, here are my five goals for this coming year:
1. Be fluent in French after my year abroad
2. Take Toffee to another clear round jumping
3. Be at a decent level on the drums (to be defined at a later date, possibly along with an uploaded video)
4. Go to Italy and have a photo at all of the most famous sites (granted this will probably be very shortly fulfilled with my dream to go to Italy coming true in 6 days! So I might replace it with another soon)
5. And finally one I cannot unveil to the wider public for fear of airing my laundry.
Small goals, I know. Nothing major here but... From little acorns mighty oaks do grow. Goodbye to 19 year old me. xoxo
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