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