How to be happier in your twenties

Being in your twenties is a confusing time. Shouldn’t you have your shit together by now? Shouldn’t you have your foot on the career ladder you always hoped for? Or, should you still be taking advantage of the real lack of responsibility and keep necking tequilas every Friday night? It’s an age where we’re considered adult enough to work full-time jobs and pay rent, where it’s totally acceptable to get married and have babies. Yet at the same time, amidst our so-called maturity and independence, we often find ourselves drinking ourselves into oblivion, living off super-noodles and not quite understanding what a mortgage really involves. It’s a real limbo, and not the good ‘how low can you go’ kind. 

The Dating Scene in NYC

If you're single and have been for a fairly hefty amount of time (Exhibit A right here), then you'll know the dating scene can be an unpredictable, terrifying and hilarious place all at once. And if you haven't been single for so long that you start to question yourself and everything you stand for, then I hate you (not really, but still). Dating is a battleground and a theme park all at the same time and if you even make it past the entirely average and mediocre chat of dating apps to a first date, it's a miracle in itself. Having said that, new to New York City with just a handful of friends to frolic with, I decided to get back on said dating apps, and my oh my has it been quite the treat for all the wrong reasons. 

What moving to NYC has taught me

At the beginning of June, I embarked on a new adventure and moved to New York City. One week in, I've written about my experiences, the highs and the lows, and what moving to the most thriving and sought after city in the world has taught me…

My first intro to NYC was a negative one. I was conned a silly amount of money by a taxi driver who pounced on little unassuming me at the airport, a deer in the headlights obviously lost in the big city. After charging me over three times the amount the journey should have been, said taxi driver then preceded to tell me that the people in NY are the nicest in the world. YEH OK MATE. Thankfully, despite not fitting into the category himself, the people of NY have been really bloody lovely and there's a sense of energy in the air that's almost tangible.

When life gets in the way

So it’s true, my blog has taken a backseat while I’ve been travelling and I haven’t written in far longer than is acceptable if I’m expecting my writing to be taken seriously. Shame on you, Hols. That’s not to say there aren’t tons of half-written posts stashed away on my laptop which didn’t make the cut. Half of said posts are full of exclamations like ‘WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY???’, ‘THIS ISN’T FUNNY’, ‘FGS GET IT TOGETHER’. Evidently, giving in to writers' block and turning to a glass of red is way more fulfilling. If you’re reading this, this post has finally made it further than the ones left to die on my desktop and we’ve experienced a bloody miracle. 

Why it's okay to be on your own

Whether you view 'being on your own' as another way of saying 'I'm desperately single', or if you think of it purely as a time where you're left to your own devices while your friends galavant elsewhere, being a solo warrior seems to come hand in hand with negative connotations. As if eating a meal alone is a sign of loneliness, that deciding you don't want to date means you have given up on even trying, or that sacking off plans to go out and party obviously means you're feeling down in the dumps. For some entirely bizarre reason, being on your own is often associated with isolation and negativity, when the fact of the matter is, it's entirely okay to admit that sometimes you like your own company more than anyone else's. 

There is a standard perception that people who are in healthy relationships are generally happier people than ones who aren't. Sure, we would all love hangover spoons on tap, someone to bring us a glass of wine in the bath or cook us dinner from time to time. But what if I like cuddling my cat when I'm hungover, pouring my own glass of wine or spending time cooking my own dinner? Does that make me a bitter loner? The sad thing is, I think that plenty of people would presume that to be the case, but I'm not going to apologise for liking my own company. We need to stop enforcing the idea that to be happy, we need to be in a relationship, and accept that sometimes, we just need more wine. 

Why everyone should live abroad

It's absolutely no secret that we all love holidaying. Whether it's skiing down the slopes in Val-d'Isère, necking flaming sambucas in Maga, or hiking up mountains in Bali, we all have our favourite holiday destinations. A holiday is that one or two weeks a year, maybe even more if you're a jammy bastard, where we leave all of our woes at home, wave goodbye to any stress or negativity that every day working life brought on us, and for once in our lives, sit back and think 'life is bloody wonderful'. As Brits abroad, we're in that airport terminal sipping pornstar martinis and jumping on that plane quicker than you can say 'más vino por favor'.

Granted, holidays are great. But living abroad isn't just an extended holiday. On holidays you don't have days where you're homesick and don't know the next time you're going to see your friends at home. On holidays you don't have to try and find somewhere to live entirely from scratch. On holidays you don't have to worry about the money you're spending because the fact of the matter is, you're on bloody holiday. Despite the struggles that you might face upping and leaving home behind, moving abroad and living in another country is, I think, the best thing anyone can ever do, and here's why...