On starting Uni and all the changes

This is a journal entry, dealing with my own experiences, feelings and thoughts. Click here for psychotherapy theory, or here to find more about me.

It’s been a long time I don’t publicly journal. The upside is that I have been quite committed to my private journal where I don’t have to think twice about what I write.

However I think it’s due a little update about all the changes that have been cooking.

Over a year ago I finally set out on a plan to become a counsellor. I identified Brighton University postgraduate studies as an ideal way to do this, and upon learning about how competitive they were I braced myself for the process.

I enrolled in a level-2 course, I read, I studied, I opened my mind to what it means to train as a counsellor: all the personal development and change. I volunteered, I reflected, I decided to wind down my corporate career (which was in the ruins anyway).

Months later, in February 2025 I was invited to interview (a month or two later than with UEL, my back-up plan). I enjoyed the interview, but I didn’t enjoy the waiting, the fear of not being selected. We were told only 1 in 4 candidates make it to the course, and with little experience in mental health I was prepared for the worse. A couple of months later I found out I wasn’t selected for the UEL course. My fears became bigger.

At that time, May, my life wasn’t going well. I had worked so hard to turn around things at work but I didn’t enjoy working, neither was I making enough money. Finances were tough, the job market was dead, I was renting, and often overwhelmed with childcare. My physical health wasn’t great (still isn’t). If I have had another bit of bad news I am not sure how I would have coped.

But I made it. I was selected. The thing I really wanted for the 2024/25, for the start of my second life happened for me.

It didn’t magically make my life easy, but it gave some relief and focus.

It’s now September and I have been preparing for the course, reading, writing, designing content, following my interests. I have started therapy which I know will have to continue for two years, which makes it feel quite special.

The other bit of great news is that I feel a lot more embedded and capable at work. I feel I have overcome the biggest hurdles in my mental health and my brain feels almost thirty again. My body doesn’t. But I can sit down and work like I used to. So I am doing a lot more hours with Public Digital, getting some cool projects off the ground, hanging on to key relationships and even learning new marketing skills. I won’t need them for very long but it’s been fun to learn new stuff and play with old and new tools.

The other huge piece of news is that I bought a flat. It’s early days, but I am looking forward to talk about more about that when it’s sensible to do so.

So, over a year later from setting on my new life with my daughter and dealing with all the breakdown and ruins from my previous life I am starting to feel like I am building. If work continues as it does, if I can move into my new flat and start paying my mortgage, if I can build up a bit of savings for a rainy day, if an easier future makes me experience a gentler life and that helps heal my body. Maybe things will be easier then.

And if not, time to sail another storm. I think I am ready, if it came to it.