I was trying to study but it appears to be a fruitless attempt at productivity as my neighbour has decided to either build an ark in their front garden or it could just general DIY, who knows! … At any rate it is not a conducive environment to focus and try write an assignment on the Romans so I figured why not do the thing that I’ve put off for a while (yes adding a new blog post has been on my to-do list) that I just never get time for, or in reality a little bit scared of as time keeps ticking..

Anyway! It has been a while and a lot has happened in that space of time! I’ll just cover a little of the uni study stuff right now.

As my last post said I started my journey to get my degree and it has been a few months since then, I was (still am really) enjoying it, although there were some topics that I just did not enjoy and struggled with (philosophy and music, I’m looking at you 😑). There were also some that surprised me and have made me question if I should alter the path of my degree. That is still undecided at the moment really. Finding what worked for me study wise was a lot of trial and error I think, and really it is still a process that is quite fluid. Being AuDHD I seem to flourish best in organised chaos.. I also need a lot of colour so putting my notes in a traffic light system essentially (colour coding things relevant to the assignment, interesting things and quotes sort of thing) has helped me zone in on what I really need in that moment.

I mean I still have hundreds of post-it notes with scribbles, and talking of scribbles my handwriting could challenge any Doctors. I am attempting to neaten it up and transfer those notes digitally shortly after they’re done otherwise I have no chance of reading the swoopy loopy writing. 😂

And then in a moment of madness I figured “why not add ANOTHER university module?!” with the Febuary starts rolling around. In turn a change from being a part-time OU student to a full-time student.. Not as if I wasn’t spinning enough plates you know?

But it would also mean that I could cut the time frame down a little, yes the modules overlap for a few months but it also meant I didn’t have to spend a year on the 2nd module and I could get to the meaty modules in Level 2 faster. The ones that I am really here for instead of having such a broad range.

Although initially terrifying and wondering if my brain is really up to the challenge I look back at how far I’ve come in my studies. This time last year was when I was first about to sign up for my degree, and what a quick year it has been! I would ideally like to complete my degree in 3 years which means I would need to double up modules each year, and double the workload too. I suppose doing it now with a small overlap in Level 1, which doesn’t count towards your degree classification, is ideal to see how to manage the work load with 2 on the go. I am just too impatient to take longer than 3 years (4 at a push).

Study wise it has been a climb and a balancing act with 2 modules on the go, especially when deadlines for TMAs are close together. I have, as well, just brought my paper flower business out of the hiatus I put it under just before starting the OU, I wanted to find my feet first with studying again (dusting the ole brain off really) so that is another plate to spin along with home education and editing videos for the YouTube channel. Along with my trusty Spotify playlist, Get Sh*t Done!, I’m finding the balance of my pillars and finding my flow. I have a plan for how I want things to work, how many blog posts per month, the videos per week and the suitable days and times to fit studying and home education together.

Right now I am just thankful for Mango Monster energy drink tbh.