Being 'Good Enough'

Hello again!

So today I'm talking about a phrase we're all familiar with - being "good enough".

Taken in a more general way, you could look at it within society. However, we all live in very different societies so how can we define who is "good enough"? I'll take the society that I live in to expand.

I guess being "good enough" in my society would be conforming to all of said society's expectations; e.g. go to university, get a good job, get married, have children, obey the law - basically be a good citizen. But not everybody conforms to these expectations, for example people on benefits, those who choose not to go to university and instead do an apprenticeship or something else or those who disobey the law. But why should that mean they aren't good enough? Why should people conform to society's expectations? Expectations which are, quite frankly, expanding into more unrealistic and demanding values. There's a mantra-like quote I've seen recently posted on various social networking sites:

And honestly, I think its absolutely true of the majority of people in society. But why should that mean that they're "good enough" and those that don't follow this aren't??

Looking at this more specifically, many of my lectures in Journalism recently have been repeating the need for extensive work experience in journalism; and I absolutely agree that it is necessary and vital to have if one wants a job/career in journalism, which is an extremely competitive and difficult area of work. What I don't agree with though, is at the end of a presentation given by a guest speaker, he said "You have to be good enough to get a job in journalism". This really annoyed me.

Why?

There are so many people out there who feel they simply aren't good enough when most likely they are! I myself often go through periods where I feel like I'm failing at everything and feel that I'll never be good enough to be a radio journalist/presenter. And therefore, to hear the term "You HAVE to be GOOD ENOUGH" is the most discouraging, terrifying statement I've ever heard in my life.

So, in conclusion, I feel we should, as an entire society - every society in fact - should stop throwing around the term "good enough". While it may encourage some people, I feel that its main effect is one of discouragemen. So many people struggle to get employment and when they don't get work they become disheartened and don't feel "good enough" and get told they need to be "better" or have "better qualities/skills" to get a job. Wars have started before because groups of people believe they're "better" than others; but what gives them the right to decide their group of people are "good enough" to live but another group aren't? So basically, stop saying "good enough" and stop judging people by that term!

Rant over.

Thanks :)

Personal Inspirations

Hello again!

So today I'm talking about my personal inspirations, or rather inspiration. I have so many, both celebrity and personal but there's one very special girl who inspires me.

Now two of my biggest personal inspirations are my parents. They always give me the best advice no matter the problem, they're always there for me and for each other and the rest of the family; I couldn't have asked for better role-models or inspirations. In fact much of my family are inspirations, they're all incredibly strong, caring people. But today I'm talking about one in particular.

Lauren. She's my adoptive auntie, but being closer to my age I see her more as another cousin. She's lived with my grandad and nanny since she was a baby; they took on many foster children before my nanny died, but Lauren is their longest term and still lives with my grandad now.

Now Lauren has multiple disabilities, I don't think I even know all of them but just a few are; autism, blindness (only one eye has partial sight) and issues with walking. When she was just 5 years old, several doctors told our family Lauren, if she lived, would never walk, talk, write or do anything a normal child and growing person can.

And here's why she's so inspirational to me.

Can't walk? She walks, runs and dances! She absolutely loves dancing! Sure it tires her after a while, she can't walk long distances but she's proved the doctors wrong there.

Can't talk? More like struggle to stop her talking! And her hearing is so good, that even with her sat in another room and listening to music, she hears your entire conversation from a couple of rooms away! Nothing gets past Lauren!

Can't write? Her writing may be similar to that of a young child but:

(She signed her name; 16th birthday card)

Might not live? Lauren is now 20 years old. She's planning her future and sure she'll never be out of care, but she's going to have a wonderful life.

I've lived my entire life growing up with Lauren and she, to me, is one of the most inspirational people in my life. She is family to me. And I'm so proud of how wrong she proved those doctors to be! It just goes to show that if you try, you can prove bad judgments about you wrong.

Until the next time,
                             Jess x

University Life!

Hello again!

Unlike most university students, I haven't moved to Lincoln from anywhere, I'm a Lincoln girl born and bred. Having decided Lincoln University had the best English and Journalism course for me (out of only four universities in the country offering English - both literature and language -  and Journalism course!) I consequently decided that it would be easiest for me to live at home.

What's home?
Home for me is this:

Living at home I find myself mainly shut away in my room, doing university work of some kind; usually reading. Each day at uni I'll hear more tales of wild nights out, arguments and fun in flats and coping of being away from home from my fellow students. This for me is a MASSIVE con; I feel like I'm missing out on so much, how much of a normal university life am I living? Should I be missing more lectures due to hangovers? Should I be going out most nights only to wake up the next morning and remember barely anything?

However there are some MASSIVE pros to living at home:

• I don't get homesick (although I do get sick of home!)
• I get my meals, ironing, washing etc done for me...although I do help out sometimes, I'm not totally incapable!
• After paying just £15 rent and £10.50 bus money to get to uni, I have £!8.50 a week left over for myself, plus I got an extra bursary so I'm not doing too bad for money

As well as accommodation being a huge part of university life, the workload is. All those university talks about how different the workload and its amount is compared to sixth form certainly weren't lies! And when you have about four deadlines in the same week (not to mention about two books to read for the same week) it gets really stressful! In fact, I don't understand how on-campus students can have this crazy nights out on most  weeknights and still pass their assignments when I barely go out and do university work a lot of time only to feel like I'm going to fail (this is paranoia; my grades so far have been pleasing). 

Despite my qualms I think I did make the right decision in going to uni. My favourite part are probably the seminars; sitting in a room of intelligent, often like-minded people, discussing set texts and debating or adding to our thoughts on them is an environment I feel I thrive in!

Until the next time,
A proud University of Lincoln student :)

Thoughts

Hello!

So today's topic is similar to that of my last one ('Moments in Time'). However, this isn't about memories, it's about thoughts instead.

Like memories, I find thoughts rather curious things as well. Much like memories, our thoughts can be sparked by something we see, hear, touch or even something we are remembering.

We may see something in the street that interests us in some way and draws our attention - an emergency vehicle being present does usually draw one's attention; I personally then wonder what's happened, who the person could be, how they are and consequently create many different scenarios in my head...all of which could be false!

Or maybe we hear something that interests us, for example a musician playing in the middle of town. The music they play may make us think about maybe how much money they earn or if the music is happy or sad or if we recognise the tune.

Remembering things can also be counted as thoughts, not merely because we are thinking about that particular moment, but also because maybe we add to it or think differently about it than it appeared at that time. For example an argument. I always remember arguments like a couple of hours later and then annoyingly think of something else I could have said!

Now a person I worked with at Siren, who has now left, used to get the same bus as me so we'd get the bus together. And one day he said, "Do you ever look at people and wonder what they're thinking? What their lives are like and what they think of everything?" I found this fascinating, because I often do, and I make little scenarios in my head for why someone looks grumpy etc.

I found this quote from Buddha:

Personally, I think it's absolutely true. Our thoughts build up the people we are and occupy us throughout the entirety of our lives. They influence our personality, how we see the world, what impressions we make of people and give us amazing talking points. This post for example, this entire blog even is my thoughts, a talking point about something I've thought about and are sharing with all of you!

Until the next time, goodbye! :)