Throw Back Thursday! | Going through the toughest life journey

I was scrolling through my photos tonight and came across these!

My graduation day. This was one of the most amazing days of my life and I'm not just saying that to boast. But this was such a significant day that marked the success of such a long, treacherous and extremely hard journey.

Because all my life I suffered from being extremely, extremely shy.. To the point of being almost selective mute! I never really found myself excelling in things. It wasn't because I was dumb or didn't understand, but it was because I never had the self confidence to believe I was actually correct. I have always suffered from self doubt and always needed ALOT of reassurance. I was still like this throughout my entire university experience. I absolutely clashed with my tutors who I'm so sure did not pass me a few times because of it. I was told many times to my face, right before exams that I would fail, I would not succeed and I was not cut out for this profession. I was told to pick something else. 

However, I refused to let someone tell me what I could and could not do and I refused to let someone tell me I should give up. I failed the final exam about 3 times before I passed it (right after a change in staffing!) I was not going to give up and I was not going to let someone else win. I knew what I wanted and where I wanted to be and I was not going to let anything come against me. There were so many times where I cried myself to sleep, where I sat up late for hours talking to my mum and wondering whether I made the right choice and if the tutors were right and if I should find a different career path. 

Mum, me and Dad

But each day I got back up, I took the bull by the horns and tried again. I got there, through blood (ok, no real blood), sweat and tears, I made it. I passed, I won the battle and I graduated. My confidence was hit soo badly throughout that process that it took me over a year to convince myself that I had actually passed and it wasn't a pity pass. I had done the hard work and I had gained the rewards for it.

Walking up on that stage to receive my diploma was the most satisfying and rewarding moment of my life. My whole family attended the graduation ceremony and it was amazing knowing they were all there so proud of me.

 

My brother and I

      My nana and I 

I want this to be a lesson to those that are going through tough times. Everyone goes through them, everyone has a different tough situation, even if you don't see it. You are not alone.

The best thing you can do is to KEEP GOING. You WILL get there, it WILL get better and you WILL BE STRONGER. You will be stronger than you were when you started and you will be stronger than everyone who gave up. You will have a killer story to tell and it will definitely give you motivation and inspiration to apply it to so many other areas and issues that come up in life.

Never give up. Always keep trying. You will reach the top of that mountain.

I now work in an amazing place, with amazing staff who I all get along with and am confident around, I have a lot more hours than most likely my ex tutors now have (we are now qualified and working in the same field!) I am earning a good wage and doing very well for myself. All because I never gave up.

I have friends who gave up at the first sign of a struggle and they now regret it, they are still working long hours on minimum wage and wondering what they should do with their life now. Sometimes taking a new path can be a good thing, but as long as it's working towards something and persevering through tough times rather than continually giving up. Then you will certainly win in the end. Go for it, you can do anything YOU set your mind to. Don't let anyone else set it for you.

"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Just thought I'd say..

I hope that if anyone is reading this, that you find these blog posts helpful, especially if you're going through a similar situation with a long distance relationship or if this even helps with situations in your relationships in general. I'm going through this completely naive, I have not done any of this before and this is my first long term relationship of over 1 year, so I am not an expert in relationship advice, but I hope that through my experiences, I can help someone. 

I'm not trying to be an expert at all either and give out advice that people have to follow. I don't know that what I say on here is even right. But this is a place where I can express my thoughts and feelings and share my experiences and learnings with anyone who comes across my blog.. I am most likely going to make mistakes and write things that I may one day read back on and think.. Well that wasn't right. But, in the moment, it works and it's how I feel, so I'm going to do what I know best and put pen to paper.. Or fingers to a keyboard.. And express myself. I don't want this to just be a sappy blog all about my boyfriend being away, I do want to write about other things, however, at the moment this is what I feel passionate about expressing.

Aside from all of that, the best piece of advice I can give in which I have learnt so far is to learn to be open, trusting and look for the good things in the relationship and the person you're dating. If you continually look for the bad things that aren't going your way, that's all you'll ever see and you'll miss all of the great things that can be so small, yet so significant.

Each day is new day, don't hold grudges and remember that we are all different, no one will be the same as you and see things the way you do. But that can be so great, in opening your eyes to a whole new world and a whole new perspective. Embrace it and enjoy it. :)

About me ~ Vicki Bennett~

So I thought I'd write a little about me. I wasn't quite sure how to do this, whether I write it paragraph style or just answer questions. I had a little read through of other blogs and found that reading a whole block about someone you don't really know, can be rather  tedious.. Plus I find answering random questions a lot more fun. So, that said, I thought I'd do a basic little intro of myself and then get onto answering some questions. :) enjoy!

As you know, my name is Vicki, I am 25 and a qualified New Zealand Sign Language Interpreter.

I have grown up in little ol New Zealand and have lived in Auckland all my life.

The things I love most are my amazing family - my parents and my brothers, my encouraging and supportive friends, my boyfriend Alex and my 2 little dogs. 

I love quad bike riding, hanging out at the beach, travelling and much much more, which I'm sure you'll find out soon enough ;)

Questions:

1. What’s your favourite drink? I would definitely have to say tea! I am a massive tea addict.. Oops.

2. What would you name your children? I have loved the name Zoe for a very long time, I recently heard the name Zoella and thought that was such a gorgeous variation to the name, so possibly Zoe/Zoella for a girl.

For a boy, this is tough.. I love the name Noah at the moment..I change my mind so often though, so I have no idea what my children's names will end up being!

3. Do you participate in any sports? Currently I do figure skating (on ice) I love it! I feel so free and adventurous. Throughout my life I have been involved in a lot of various sports and activities, such as gymnastics (my ultimate fav!!) and all kinds of difference dance styles, ballet, hip hop, salsa. I have so much fun.

4. Favourite Animal? Rabbits! I am absolutely crazy about them!! I have had 2 bunnies which I absolutely adored. I will post a photo of them. I am a huuuge animal lover, especially anything cute and little and teacup sized ;) (one of our dogs is a miniature daschund)

This is my rabbit Peter. The sweetest pet ever. <3

5. Favourite perfume?i am a perfume fanatic, I try to change it every day, but currently I am loving Taylor Swift Wonderstruck and Brittany spears Midnight fantasy. I may do a review of my perfumes in another blog post.

6. Have you graduated High School? Yep, I left school in 2006! Feels so long ago. Although it had it's ups and downs, I really do miss it now and would love to go back and do it all again, possibly changing.. Or shall we say, improving.. a few things. ;)

7. Have you been out of the Country? I sure have! I love traveling! I have been to many different parts of Australia, Thailand and Singapore. This year I hope to visit the U.K and the US

8. Do you speak any other Languages? I do! I know Sign Language - only the New Zealand one, it is different in each country, but England and Australia a fairly similar to NZ. This year I would like to try and learn French or German.

9. Favourite Movie? I loooove the old classics such as Dirty Dancing (my absolute all time fav!) The Notebook, Pretty Woman. The Holiday. Probably the most recent movie I can think of that I really liked was The Vow, but there are so many I enjoy watching it is hard to choose. So I will stick to the old ones that I could just watch over and over.

10. Favourite Tv show? I'm not a huuuge tv viewer, I'm one of those that gets the whole series and then watches them. Ever since I was little though, I have been a devoted viewer of Home and Away (an Australian soap), I also love Friends, Suits and Switched and Birth.

11. How tall are you? I'm a teeny little thing of 5'1! I like to THINK I taller though and take on anyone who try's to be cheeky about it :P

So there you go! Just a little (ok kind of looks like a lot..) about me! Feel free to ask me any other questions and I will be glad to answer :)

Bye for now! xx