Rachspace ~ feeling stuck

Hey there! so I thought I'd do a post on my thoughts lately. I'm going to title posts like these "Rachspace" as they're basically going to be a "space" where I can go to vent essentially and share how I'm feeling. :)

I've been feeling a bit stuck lately. I've recently finished sixth year in secondary school and that means I've also just finished the Leaving Cert. Everything in primary and secondary school had basically led up to that period of exams and like many big events there are often lulls afterwards and that's where I am right now. I'm finished with secondary school forever and college is on the horizon, which is a big, completely new experience in itself; but right now I feel like I am in limbo between two stages of life and I can feel a bit lost sometimes.

Leaving school there is this rush of freedom -which is a new concept in my life- and with this freedom there is also all these new responsibilities that we are suddenly supposed to deal with. So with this new found freedom I am also feeling surrounded by pressure to do all these things that happen when you enter the real world I guess, removed from the safe, bubble of naivety that was second level education. Things like get a job, figure out what you want to do in life, learn to drive, save up money etc. I think the main problem with these responsibilities is that we are not fully prepared to do these things or educated in general on the things we need to actually do. Everything in my school life was just 100% focused on learning the curriculum to essentially pass these "really important, life shaping exams". It is an extremely stressful environment and once you finish the exams you expect the stress and problems to go away; but new problems are always found in life. That's life. The game doesn't get easier, it just changes.

Although I can say that in many ways it has gotten better. For example I love having the freedom now to express myself how I wish and choose what I do with a lot more of my time; but I also think that this power of choice as regards my life is a very daunting idea. It scares me that I more or less need to do everything by myself now that will decide where my life goes next. I know that this is just something that happens to everybody and that the choices I make now aren't marked in stone but it doesn't mean that they don't matter either; they will still effect my life in one way or another.

Another thing is that to be honest I've no idea where I want to go on this journey of life in the first place! I'm sure many people can relate to that as I know people don't always know what they want from life. I mean, how can we? with experience comes knowledge and personally I definitely don't have enough experience to be making any life changing decisions for my future right now. It also doesn't help that I am horribly indecisive and can barely decide what lipstick to wear most days, never mind decide what I want from life. Yenno?

Don't get me wrong, I have lots of things that I know I want to do, smaller tasks that in the long run will make me closer to the person I want to be. Things like: practice my art, read more, learn about things I actually have interest in, watch great movies, get in shape, blog, see new places and many more things; but the presence of all of these things I want to do in my mind, along with responsibilities can be overwhelming a lot of the time. As a result of this I end up spending more time worrying about all of these things I should be doing rather than actually doing them, and this accompanied by obstacles like lack of resources such as money etc. can by discouraging and disappointing. I find myself stuck in a time where everything is changing around me, as all my friends and I enter the new world of adulthood, but yet nothing is happening. I don't want to get lost in all of the commotion going on around me. I really want to reach my goals and start living my life how I'd like to live it. After all this is only the beginning to all of the changes that happen in life. There are many more experiences to come, and hopefully with that, knowledge. I think what I really need right now is some inspiration, motivation and to get myself organised.

Any advice on my situation is always appreciated. I'm sure I'm not the only person to feel like this. :) I'm sorry if my ramblings don't make sense, This is just what I've been thinking about lately.

Lots of love,

Rach. <3

Taylor Swift's 1989 tour.

This day last week I was one of the lucky ones going to see Taylor Swift perform in the 3Arena in Dublin as part of her 1989 tour. Not gonna lie, I'm having some major concert withdrawals right now, but I have to say that that concert was definitely one of the best experiences I've had to date.

Taylor hasn't been to Ireland in four years, so you can only imagine the excitement of all the fans who have been dreaming of seeing her live in all her glory and believe me, she exceeded everyone's expectations that night. Wow can that girl put on a show!

I can't even imagine the amount of time, effort and money put into the production of  her shows. The atmosphere created was spectacular! The lighting, props, dancers and backup singers all added to the performance greatly. Of course Taylor herself was also flawless, as usual; she sang and danced fabulously and as well as that something that I really enjoyed that she did was that she was constantly interacting with the audience. She told us stories, gave advice and always linked what she was saying back to the next song she would sing. It was clear that everyone was having the time of their lives. The overall energy of Taylor, her team and the fans was amazing and filled the whole arena. It definitely felt like we were all one big Swifty family gathered together that night. Everything was clearly well thought out even down to the small detail of everyone getting a wristband that lit up different colours with each song. It was a special night to say the least.

Vance Joy was Taylor's support act and he definitely deserves a mention as he was fantastic! I've been a fan of him for a little while and I was ecstatic when I heard he was going to be playing. He performed his songs flawlessly and did a great job at getting the crowd hyped up for the show. I really recommend anyone who hasn't heard of him to listen to his songs as he has some beautiful ones. I'm so glad that I got to see him perform live.

Overall this concert was incredible in every way and I'm telling you if you ever get the chance to see Taylor swift perform live to take it because you won't regret it! I'm so happy that I was lucky enough to experience it and I know that it is an experience I'll never forget.

Love,
Rach <3

An important trip to the beach and accompanying OOTD

So yesterday I went to the beach and this time the trip there had a bigger purpose than the usual one of simply having fun and enjoying the sparkling water; although that happened too.

This year the Irish government has finally published the first climate change bill for lower carbon emissions but a lot of people are unhappy about it as there are no targets set for change and without targets are we really guaranteed changes? 

I am a volunteer youth leader at ECO-UNESCO, which is an environmental youth group, and about three weeks ago we were told about an upcoming event to do with climate change. This event was called "Stop climate chaos" and the general motto for the day was "let's get our heads out of the sand". Many people gathered on Sandymount beach in Dublin and 150 people buried their head in the sand to symbolise the government's 'head being in the sand'/their ignorance towards the effects of climate change. I think this was an easy yet effective way to raise awareness and make a point. It was also great to see people stand up for something they care about. In my opinion everyone should care about climate change as it is a problem that everyone around the world is affected by.

Along with promoting a good cause, a lot of fun was had that day. I was there with my friends and we had a great time enjoying the sun, music and playing fetch with a dog name Corbel that we befriended. After the beach we went to town where we had pizza in 'Rays' and looked around the shops(I even got two necklaces on sale in topshop for 5 euro each). It was a successful day! :).

OOTD:

I thought I'd include what I wore to the beach in this post as well. Surprisingly all the clothes that I wore are from Penneys(Primark) even though I haven't really found any nice clothes there in a long time.

• Kimono: Red, black and grey design with hints of blue. I bought this last summer and so won't be available in stores.
• Top: Plain dark grey tank top.
• Bottoms: Black, ripped skinny jeans.
• Shoes: Black and white flatforms.
• Sunglasses: Circle lenses from Urban Outfitters. 

Overall it was a great day for many reasons and I hope we showed the government that they need to 'get their heads out of the sand'. 

I hope you like this post and I'll see yous soon.

Love,

Rach. <3

Welcome

Hey anyone who is reading this,

This is going to be my blog. I had another blog which I started last year but it didn't get very far at all as I was in sixth year last year and that basically means that there is no time for anything fun, including my blog. There wasn't really anything to blog about anyway since all that was going on in my life was a lot of stress and study. 

So, I've recently graduated from school and to match my fresh start in life beyond school, I decided to set up a new blog. Leaving school I feel like I am finally free to be my own person and I've always wanted a blog to be part of that. 

Hopefully this blog can be a reflection of my life as I start on this journey into new experiences such as college, which is fast approaching, and everything else along the way.

I have no set theme for my blog, it's just gonna be a mixture of things I'm interested in and my thoughts in general. I'm really excited to start blogging again. Here's to fresh starts.

Rach. <3