Last month I graduated university with a First Class Honours in Magazine Journalism. It was the most exciting, most nerve wrecking day of my life and was a great end to the craziest three years at university.

I've said before, I never wanted to go to university and in reality it wasn't until my third and final year that I actually felt like I'd made the right decision in going. It's sad really, but my first two years where overshadowed by personal issues and I never really had the 'uni experience'.

However, even through the highs and the lows, I was grateful to throw my motarboard up in the air eventually - even if only for the Boomerang!

Graduation is an odd one. You've worked hard for three years, you've shook the old mans hand on stage, you're holding your degree...well what now?

This is it, this is everything you've been working and waiting for, so why does it feel so anticlimactic? For me it did anyway.

Once you've handed in your final piece of work, that's it, graduation fever! What am I going to wear? Who am I going to invite? Will my gown be too big? Will the photographer get my good side? So many questions and the next thing you know, the days here, the gowns on, the photographs taken and then it's done!

It didn't hit me that I'd actually graduated until about a week later and the terror of adult life started kicking in. I was no longer a student. There'd be no more stumbling home, kebab in hand at 4am. There'd be no more skipping lectures and watching daytime telly all day. There'd be no more lying in bed with your housemate for hours on end chatting utter shite.

It's a scary and uncertain time for many 'students', especially if like me, you didn't have a proper plan. Everything you've known for the past three of four years has suddenly changed and there's a lot of pressure to settle back into normality and find your dream graduate job and start living this high flying 'adult' life.

Now I've learnt that this isn't a reality. Luckily for me, I bagged an 'adult' job quite quickly and am set to start next week. Is it my dream job? No it's not, but it's a job and that's an achievement in itself. It'll allow me to save money for my future and give me the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do with me life.

Yes, after three years at university, I still don't know what I want to do with my life, but who does?!

All I can say is that this my chance to live my life and if you've just graduated too and feeling uncertain about life after uni, don't worry, we're all in the same boat!

I’m currently sat on my windowsill as I write this. I have the window open, my legs dangling out, the 24°c heat around me and the glorious sun hitting my skin. I’ve got chip and dip next to me and a strawberry cider. I’m living my best life.

I wrote a post at the beginning of the year about how when I turned twenty-three I wanted to live my life for myself. I’m twenty-three and seventy-three days as I write this and these past seventy-three days have been all mine.

In these past seventy-three days I’ve become myself.

I’ve grown up, I’ve become more immature.

I’ve acted like a proper uni student, I’ve acted like a proper adult.

I’ve made new friends, I’ve lost friends.

I’ve joined the gym, I’ve gained (good) weight.

I’ve played in the snow, I’ve played in the sea.

I’ve laughed till I’ve cried, I’ve cried till I’ve laughed.

I’ve tried new foods, I’ve tried new clothes.

I’ve stayed in the library until the next morning, I’ve worked myself till there was nothing left.

I’ve given up, I’ve kept on going.

I’ve gone on adventures, I’ve not moved all day.

I’ve stopped caring, I’ve cared too much.

I’ve created my own magazine, I’ve booked my graduation, I’ve got a new tattoo, I’ve been to the beach, I’ve had a BBQ on the Common, I’ve drank too much, I’ve celebrated myself and my peers, I’ve cut my hair, I’ve sussed my future, I’ve been me.

Lauren-Georgina x

Every year when my birthday starts looming, I begin to have my annual midlife crisis. A couple of weeks before my big day the eternal dread of getting older and thoughts of my life and future take over and I fall into a pit of despair. A couple of years ago when I turned twenty, I did a full on Britney and cut my hair off, alas it was into bob, I didn't quite grab the clippers - maybe when I turn twenty-five.

This year it hit my early and it's hit me hard. This years a big year for me, I'm finishing my degree, it's been five years since I had life changing surgery and I'm taking the next step into the big wide world...fuck me, someone get me a drink!

I'm in the middle of a crisis where I'm watching everyone around me get amazing work experience opportunities and graduate job offers and I'm sat in bed eating Aldi brand Oreos and binge-watching Friends - thanks Netflix!

Don't get me wrong, I am so incredibly proud of these people, I really am, but could I be anymore stressed about my life?!

With twenty-three fast approaching, I'm kicking myself up the arse and brushing the Oreo crumbs off of me. Twenty-three is going to be my selfish year - I have places to go, people to see and nothing is getting in my way.

I want to have fun. I want to go on adventures. I want to put my phone down and forget about everything. I want to go on nights out. I want to see old friends. I want to sing my heart out. I want to live my life. I want to live my life for me.

After my birthday in February last year I wrote a post about what I wanted to achieve by twenty-three and it turns out it wasn't a bad year. It's easy to forget about little personal achievements in the grand scheme of things, but often without the little ones, those bigger achievements wouldn't be able to happen.

By twenty-three I wanted to pass my second year at university, which I did and did damn well as well. I co-founded and co-edited my own magazine, not only creating the initial concept and putting a business plan together for it, but also wrote articles and did the design work for it all. It was the hardest but most rewarding piece of work I've ever put together and can't wait to one day showcase it to industry professionals. Not bad for someone who didn't want to go to university!

I wanted to work on my mental health in this year and haven't I just! My mental health will never be perfect, but in the past year I've got it to a place where I feel comfortable. I opened up about my life with anxiety on my blog for Mental Health Awareness Week last May and received an overwhelming response from far and wide. Opening up was the first hurdle and I'm so glad I did.

Leading on from mental health, I wanted to say yes to more things and had so many great experiences because I allowed myself to. Little things like saying yes to a night out or a trip somewhere gave me the opportunity to build closer relationships with those in my life already that I wouldn't normally have. One of my proudest achievements was attending my first blogging event last October. I'd been invited to many in the past, but had always been too nervous; I'm not really part of any blogging community and I felt like a complete outsider. This time however I pushed myself and attended the launch of We Heart Mondays and had a great time meeting like minded people. The day was a double whammy of pushing myself as to get there I had to travel alone and get the Tube by myself - one of my all time fears. I got the Tube by myself, me! That day I proved to myself that I am a lot more capable than what I give myself credit for.

Twenty-two was a good year, it wasn't always smooth sailing, but that's where I get all my ridiculous life stories from.

With twenty-three just a few weeks away I hope I can look back this time next year and think, "yeah, I did that".

Lauren-Georgina x

Here we go, the first story about my very strange love life...

Let's start with a little back story. When I was about thirteen I had a school girl crush on a boy in my class - let's call him 'Steve' (not his real name, what poor thirteen year old is called Steve?!). We'd been friends since we'd started secondary school and always had this weird flirty banter going on - as much flirty banter you can have when you've only recently been allowed to watch movies rated 12 without an adult!

Now at school I was very shy, kept my head down and did my work, but this boy was quite the opposite. 'Steve' didn't pay attention in class, would stick pins in his hand, had a sweeping greasy fringe and listened to screamo music... I was going through my emo phase at the time, let me be! Thirteen year old Lauren wanted a bad boy. Looking back at it, I don't really know what little Lauren was doing and I don't think little Lauren knew what she was doing either, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

One evening I was minding my own business when up flashed 'Steve's' name on my phone, oh my gosh how exciting! I answered keeping it cool, keeping it casual, trying to be the mysterious thirteen year old that I was, when inside my little emo heart was screaming. Then he muttered the most romantic phrase you could ever hear back in the day... "will you go out with me?".

The angel chorus started singing, my black emo heart turned gold, I had done it, I'd actually bagged myself a bad boy! To make things even more magical, he said we'd go to the cinema to see High School Musical 3; now I may have been a little emo, but once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat!

As any thirteen year old would do, I was straight onto MSN messaging my BFF Kirsty (real name) about my new life with 'Steve', while also trying to pay attention to the episode of Eastenders currently on, because priorities!

How long do I wait until I declare myself as 'in a relationship' on Facebook? What do I wear to our HSM3 cinema date? When will Dot Cotton finally leave Eastenders? So many questions, so little answers!

I needn't have worried about making it Facebook official however, as seventeen minutes later my bubble burst.

"Yeah, I think I've changed my mind, I'm just not ready for that kind of commitment..."

Commitment?! We're thirteen, what other commitments do you have?!

I was crushed, absolutely crushed. The Eastenders theme tune still gives me wartime flashbacks. You'd have thought after that I would have learnt my lesson when it comes to bad boys, but spoiler, I wouldn't be writing this series if I had!

With that I replaced High School Musical with My Chemical Romance and that ladies and gentlemen is the story of my seventeen minute relationship.

Lauren-Georgina x