Uni Is A Real Life Battlefield

The hardest thing about uni isn’t the workload or the pressure of wanting to make your family proud, it’s the isolation. The friends and family you’ve built relationships with for the past 18 years of your life are suddenly not readily available and you’re somewhere new.

On your own.

After the hustle and bustle of Ikea trips, parties and coursework deadlines you close your door and you’re alone. Just you and your thoughts and that can be a dangerous place to be. You could use this time to be productive, start a business, learn a new skills, push yourself to be better; but then there are the days that it’s even a struggle to get out of bed. Your mum isn’t there to give you a pep talk, your old friends are busy having the time of their lives all over your Snapchat. Then you look to social media and your age mates are making money while you slowly drown in your overdraft. It’s hard man.

Imagine if you’re feeling like that but you still manage to drag yourself out of bed and you still manage to focus on the good things; check up on those that can’t do the same. The people that are usually active on social media but haven’t Snapchatted in weeks, the people that you usually see in your lectures but you don’t see anymore; check up on them. Doesn’t matter if you’re close or not, if you’re best friends or just acquaintances just ask if they’re ok and genuinely be ready to listen. 

I recently found out that a family friend committed suicide. He was at uni away from his support system and I honestly had shivers when I heard the news. I can only imagine how his family and close friends will feel. But sadly he’s not an anomaly. Suicide rates are uni are really high, I'm not pretending to know the reason why, but at the very least being there for someone isn't going to increase their chances.

Long story short, check on your circle; from your close friends to your acquaintances because people are going through real stuff. But also be ready to open up. This is more of a note to self, I’ve got the listening bit sorted but the opening up bit isn’t my forte. When people ask how are you be ready to tell them. Just think if it was the other way round wouldn't you want them to feel comfortable enough to open up to you. Just don’t bottle it up until it consumes you.