My journalism studies concluded at Lincoln in May earlier this year, and I have been searching for something to earn some "pocket money" since March. Over six months later, and here I am: applying for 5+ jobs a day, walking my dog, doing the laundry for my mother and sitting in the unknown for 50+ jobs who haven’t been in contact with me to let me know whether or not I’ve been hired. Oh, and I’ve signed on to The Job Centre today.

I would be lying to you if I said I wasn’t feeling embarrassed. 

I’m 22, a first-class graduate with years of media experience under my belt - and I’m struggling to get an email back from employers. (I’m not sure what’s worse… not receiving a text back from my boyfriend, or an email from a company I’ve been dying to work with for years). 

It feels demoralising and draining. Putting your heart and soul into an application, only to never hear back about your progress or find out that someone else has received the role via social media (true story, btw). 

I didn’t expect to be feeling like this after working so hard for so long. But why do I feel so ashamed?

According to BBC News, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.1% in the country (BBC News, Sept 2020)  which has meant many young people (like myself) have been affected by this. I am not alone and there are many others out there who are in the same situation. 

It’s funny how when we have career celebrations, we share them across social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, to prove that “we did it, I’m a professional now!” But we don’t share the negatives, the job rejections, the difficult application processes or even “The Post Graduate Slump” (abbreviated to PGS).

​So here I am today, sharing the reality from someone who is still unemployed during this unprecedented time.

The "PGS" has been sitting on my shoulders for quite a few months now. I don’t feel filled with creativity as I used to six months ago. Instead, it feels like a chore, something which I don’t want to be doing and get no enjoyment out of. It breaks my heart that something I know I have the passion for fills me with dread and hatred. 

But as the old saying goes - there’s light at the end of the tunnel and silver linings to look for

The PGS plus the job hunt burnout has taken its toll on me in the last few weeks. It is hard to remain positive when you’re itching to take a step into “the real world” after sitting on the side lines for the past three years. 

But, I am grateful.

Life is full of its awesome ups and dreaded lows, and this is just a bump in the road. I have a wonderful support system around me, which I know some may not have. I’m lucky enough to have access to The Job Centre, job searching sites and more - so I need to remind myself that this isn’t something to feel embarrassed or upset about.
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This post was for me to vent, get back into my groove and reach out to others. I know many of you are also feeling the strain and pressure at the minute with the way of the world. I want you to know is that I understand the part of the struggle and I’m on this rollercoaster ride alongside you. 

I’m not really sure where this puts me now. I want to get my creative juices flowing again, but they simply don’t feel accessible at the minute. I hope that something will kick in soon, as I am missing the enjoyment I had for creating “stuff”. 

I wasn’t really sure how to end this post, but a comedy duo always knows how to recharge my batteries in the form of a song when life is getting me down, and I hope it helps you too: 

Catch up with you soon,

Hello, Grace of the future!

It's your 21 year old self here writing this on a Saturday night (yep, you know how to live) and I thought to keep with tradition of my last post of talking to myself, I decided to write to you. Whether you reply or not is another matter...

Just like the last time I want to go through a few things where I hope that we will be in 5 years time (obviously it's not the end of the world if we haven't BUT it'll be a bit of fun).

1. Be settled in your career
Sitting here now as an unemployed, undergraduate student the future is filled with possibilities. I have no idea how the most stressful few weeks of my life are going to go (please enlighten me) and where we will be heading after life in Lincoln. I'm currently interested in the world of social media and video production, so it will be interesting to see where we are when you next read this. Or we might do a complete 180 and become a radio DJ that 13 year old you wanted to be! 

2. Have your own home
I don't think this one is too outrageous BUT with the current cost of house prices, I won't be shocked if you're still in your fuchsia floored room with mum and dad. If we do have our own home, fantastic! I hope we have flown the nest by then and got out of mum and dad's hair for a bit and I'm intrigued to see how we're coping living fully on our own (I won't count university halls or houses).

3. Still settled down?
We ticked off one box from last time by finally settled down (thank you, Andrew for taking one for 16 year old me) so I'd like to think that we have continued on our madness together.

4. Have seen a *tiny* bit more of the world
I'm itching to get back out into the world again to see a bit more of it. I'm hoping that we have ticked off our bucket list location of Australia in this time (because I'm hoping we have become a "proper adult" and earned some pennies to get us over there. Or did we ever venture across to Japan? Anywhere we've been I'd be intrigued to know about.

5. I hope you're still as happy as you are now
Yes times are tough and life can be pretty sh*tty but I hope we have continued our mantra of "everything happens for a reason" and taken each day as it comes. I hope that we continue to say yes to a number of different opportunities that have been thrown our way over the last 5 years and I hope that we are still in a fantastic place. And even if we aren't everything will be brighter in the morning, as Morecambe & Wise would once sing "when you feel down, try positive thinking..."

Speak to you soon,

Grace x

To continue on my talking to myself posts from way back when, I decided to continue on this "tradition" of talking to future me. I'm looking forward to see what I have achieved over the next five years!

See you in the next blog post,

This post came up on my Facebook memories a few days ago and I just had to give myself a response. I don't think I was too ambitious with my questions back then - plus it was a nice nostalgia trip to go on this late in the evening!

I'm planning on doing a 5 year catch-up... watch this space 26 year old me...

Hi everyone!

Crikey, it's been a very long time since I've been sitting behind my laptop screen and writing a blog post for you to read.

I haven't really got a grand excuse to give to you for why I haven't been as active on here (for nearly a year) but I thought to get back into writing again I can catch you all up to speed in a short post...

My year of working came to an end in August last year which meant I was no longer going to be working for the local magazine in my town. I've learnt so much about the "world of work" through a short space of time and it was a bittersweet ending to that part of my life.

I gained a lot of confidence throughout my time there as well as a number of skills I don't think I would've got without being there. 

But as soon as a I finished there, it was time to go onto my next adventure...

As of September 2017, I became a journalism student at the University of Lincoln! The past 8 months at university have been a rollercoaster of emotions (which is ironic, because I hate rollercoasters...) There have been some incredible times and there has been the odd few weeks where the pressure and stress had got to me. I'm hoping to write an entire reflection post soon to share my thoughts and feelings in regards to first year. 

It's been a month since I finished and after a well deserved break I've decided to get myself back into gear and get my routine back to normal - I hope!

I was reading back on my blog a few weeks ago and looking through all the content I was creating when I first started. In a weird way, it's inspired me to get some new ideas down and get those creative juices flowing again - even if I feel like I'm too busy to sit down and write something! I have been blogging in other busy periods of my life (GCSE's, A-Level coursework and even when I was working) so why should now be any different?

I've got a few things in the pipeline and I've got an exciting year ahead at university come September, but I'm aiming for this not to get in the way - I've just got to learn how to juggle multiple things at once again!

I've got some beauty products which I've been trying out for the last few months whilst being at uni, some beauty DIYs and regimes which I would like to share with you all (or those who are interested in that, at least). There will still be the odd chatty post like this one, as well.

This blog has also recently been active for 4 years now, but with everything going on at university I sadly missed our Blogiversary! 

So in a short but sweet post, this is where we're at and what I've been doing. As I'm writing this I'm going to write a few more posts and plan some others to come at you other the next few months.

​I have neglected this blog which is daft since it has helped me with so many opportunities in my life so far - so why should I give it up?!

I'm back and more determined than ever - lets just hope I can keep up with myself now! I'll sign off from here for the time being, just keep an eye out for any new posts coming your way...

See you in the next blog post,

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since I've written a general chit chat blog post (my last post was back in April which is crazy!) You may have noticed the new redesign on the blog, I decided to revamp it all a few weeks back to freshen it all up after a 3 years of writing! 

So if you've read before, I am a couch to 5k runner and the running bug has definitely bitten and latched onto me the past few months. As I'm off to university in a few months, I decided to make a list of things I wanted to do before I leave in September. On the list was buying my web domain (check!) and running a 10k race.

The maximum distance I had ran was about 5.5 miles, so 6.2 miles shouldn't be too much of a challenge if I put my mind to it. I run with an incredible group of runners in Royston and I was chatting about my 10k challenge and I was given a few ideas which ones to take part in.

A few ladies were doing the Race for Life 10k and after looking into it, I finally decided to sign up! 

The Race for Life also felt like a good option to take part in for a few reasons: 1) it was local and around the city of Cambridge 2) my mum ran this exact race about 10 years ago and 3) in was in aid of Cancer Research UK.

I wanted to help support Cancer Research and decided to set up a fundraising page (you can read about my reason to take part here: fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/graces-fundraising-page-143) and I set myself a goal of £200 to raise for Cancer Research UK

I never like morning running. I don't feel like I have enough energy and my running mojo isn't in full swing until late afternoon. However, the race began at 11am and mum was persistent that we get there early...2 hours early in fact!

The nerves were starting to set in around 9.30am but we soon met with my lovely running friends and after embarrassing ourselves in a entertaining warmup - we were ready to set off!

The course was mostly flat and it went round some incredible sites of Cambridge. Through the market square, the college, the back streets and up & down the canal. As you may know, Cambridge is very busy at the best of times, so you can imagine the response we got when 4,000+ women were running up the street in pink!

The first 5k was really fun, it was busy & lots of people were cheering, however when the second 5k came along it became quite quiet - luckily I wasn't alone when running the second 5k!

I completed the race in 1hr 18mins which is a PB for me! I am still extremely proud of myself and I raised a whopping £300 in total for Cancer Research UK - which I hope will help get one step closer in finding a cure someday.

I'd like to thank all of my wonderful sponsors - you definitely helped me get me round the course!

Now it's my first 10k out of the way, I'm deciding what the next challenge will be!

See you in the next blog post,