If I'd been asked when I was 14 what life would be like in ten years time, I'd have maybe said 'secure job, own flat, steady relationship' etc etc etc. Basically a life that a lot of my friends at home have at the moment.
Well, with one month until my 24th birthday, I'm lying here in my One Direction bed sheets, eating a dominos for one and desperately googling how to get rid of a mouse who has wrongly assumed 'mi casa es su casa'.
The only emails I get these days are either from said fast food outlet, or from LinkedIn asking if i'd like to 'endorse' uni acquaintances I can barely remember on their job skills. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll pass.
I'm neither in steady employment, or a steady relationship and I currently live on a landing. As in a hallway. Yes my bedroom does not have a door or a wall (see below). Day 1 and my housemates had already seen everything. The bathroom door broke on day 2, and this meant my morning wake up calls by day 3 onwards would now be pretty grim.
Even if I wanted friends or family to stay, this is all I could offer them:
Moaning aside, I love being back in Melbourne and really embracing city living this time. I've been going out for great food, to amazing bars and trying to tick off everything on my Melbourne bucket list. With city life before, i was constantly worried about saving money for future travels and limiting my spending. This time, I'm spending much of what I earn on finding the best poached eggs, the best coffee and the best gin and tonic.
Luckily I landed a great paid job in a frozen yoghurt shop in the first few days of arriving back, which has kindly funded my Melbourne fun but been catastrophic on my waist line.
Having such a delightful time back in Melbourne has given me the time to reflect on what Liz at 14 thought Liz at 24 was going to be. Although I don't have what a typical mid-20 year old has, nor an idea of when I'll get it, I'm feeling less worried about it all. I'm now finding myself accepting that this is all OK.
Although my parents are great and not in the least bit pressurising, those lingering questions always float about: 'When are you going to come home and find a proper job?', 'What are you going to do next year?' I've already been away for almost two years, surely that's enough of this whole 'seeing the world' thing?
I can honestly say I have no clue about any time frames, and with my impending 4 week trip back to the UK, I'm prepping for the inevitable life questions from both my friends and my parents friends. I know they're not being rude, they are just natural questions. But pleeeease, I just really don't know.
I may not have much of life plan or following the acceptable transition from teen to adult, but I'm also not sponging off anyone, nor am I struggling for money. I'm just happy as I am continuing on with my work/travel/work/travel pattern.
Making ten year predictions is a little silly I feel, but as cringey as it sounds, I'm honestly hoping that I'll just be still be happy and content with whatever I'm doing. I hope I'm surrounded by people that I love and still have the desperate desire to visit different places and meet new people.
Although, not to be overly optimistic, I'm kinda hoping at the age of 34 I'll have my own room. Fingers crossed eh.
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