Me 3 Years Ago

I found this playful "challenge" in a Finnish blog-site where bloggers were encouraged to take a trip down memory lane to think what they were doing and where three years ago. Before I even noticed I was already counting back years and thinking where I was in January 2012. And the answer:

Oh yes, darling London. A job in London was my number-one goal since the age of 10

  but I never expected that this dream would come true already at the age of 23! In 2012 I was studying in Scotland and needed to find an internship. And for me there was no such option as doing my internship in Finland, so I applied to a Finnish consultancy firm located in London. I still remember being in H&M in Aberdeen when my mum called me about an e-mail I had received from the interviewer: I got the job! And I think the entire mall heard it.

London is beautiful and so versatile and I totally understand why so many people want to move there. But it wasn't my cup of tea. It's too big, and for a person who likes living in the centre, close to everything, it took a little adapting when the high prices ensured that I would live too far from everything. Also, since the internship wasn't a paid one, the lack of money proved to be a real challenge. My lifeline for those six months were my wonderful flatmates.

Even though I couldn't live the kind of London-life that I had been dreaming about (which would in reality be the life of a millionaire) I was able to travel around the country. I visited my favourite places in the UK, Brighton and Aberdeen, and found a new favourite: Bath.

Bath

Stonehenge

So many things and big changes can happen in three years, but I think I am still pretty much the same as I was in 2012. Definitely a little wiser and many, many experiences richer, but as a person I don't think I've changed... much. 

Reasons for patting my 23-year-old self on the back include the willingness to risk everything and move to a huge city where I knew no-one. My hunger for learning and seeing new things has never wavered. Also the way I always worked my way towards fulfilling my dreams is something I can be proud of.

On the not-so-proud side I did not handle the difficulties in London very well. Moving there did not go without problems; I didn't have a home for two weeks and the work didn't turn out to be what I had expected. Also lack of money made my life there boring, which shouldn't even be possible in a city like London. I took all the set-backs a little too hard and had a mini-breakdown only two months in.

To myself in 2018 I would say keep going to way you're going because it seems to be the right way. Never lose the childish ability to enjoy even the smallest things and the certainty that everything will always be all right in the end.