Your Best is Good Enough

As I sat down at my laptop to write this post I took a moment to reflect on where my head was. There are a whole bunch of topics and issues I want to discuss on here but I also want to document what’s happening in my life. So this week’s blog post is going to be a bit of a ramble and some positive vibes to remember your best is good enough.

It’s week eight at Uni and things have really started amp up. I’m talking three assignments due by Sunday, two exams in the following couple of weeks and some major research to be started for another two subjects (and they say being a student is easy). Multi-tasking and organisation are essential and I have said goodbye to any chance of leaving the house. That is, apart from making the trek to Uni and attempting to earn enough to eat.

I’m going to get quite defensive as a student right now. Whilst I acknowledge that we get far too many holidays, it is actually really hard. We have to balance Uni, work and some level of a social life as well as discover how to adult (this is a completely foreign concept to most of us). There is also learning how to keep friendships with people you don’t have the time to see and starting new and exciting relationships (that only happens to some of us, apparently). I’m not sure about you but my head hurts. I totally understand that people with full-time jobs experience the majority of this but studying requires an added pressure, the stress that you are paying for a piece of paper.

Anyway, I seemed to be going along just fine. I loved my degree and was getting some pretty good results. Life was really great. But then came that pressure and as I looked at my assessment calendar I could no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It had everything to do with a political story I am writing. We were politely asked to get three original sources to talk to us about some underlying political issue. The catch being most politicians have a strict policy that they don’t talk to student journalists. I honestly don’t think I have even been more frustrated in my entire life. I kept calling people and never got anywhere. I know this is all part of the experience and being a journalist means people don’t want to talk, but I was over it. Eventually I used the people I know and started with my own contacts in order to get something on paper. After talking to my tutor it seems I might actually have some half decent story that I hope will boast my GPA (Grade Point Average, for those non-Uni peeps).

Basically I want to make the point that there will be times where you simply can’t get the grade you want and it will seem like you are never quite good enough. However, trying your best is all you can do. I know I sound like your 40-year-old Mum right now but it’s true. We have to be happy with our best effort and can only use the criticism to improve ourselves next time round.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism