U of L

The hardest University to ever attend, there are no application forms, there are no entrance exam’s apart from getting out of the birth canal in one piece. The moment we take our first breath we are admitted into the University of Life from which we only graduate upon our death’s.

Life long learning, training, exams and tests, multiple choices are the name of the game with no clear guidebooks. We are given a few tools here and there but it is up to us how we learn, whether we study, accept the lessons and grow. If we fail we get to redo the test, often over and over until we have finally understood the material at hand.

On the day of our birth the first chapter is opened, closing with a traumatic or life changing event, then moving on to the second. There are no time limits to these chapters, they progress at our speed no matter what we think or feel, we govern the speed at which we learn. Each person is different as to how many chapters they will have in their lifetimes, some have many, some have only a few. It is up to the person.

The pattern of a chapter?

Our first chapters all start the same, with birth, the only difference is the how, complications, etc.

Towards the end of a chapter we start to face a change, a big decision, a challenge or a trauma. What ever it is, it unsettles us and forces us to step out of our normal existence and to “deal” with something.

Once the “dealing” has taken place, the decision made, the trauma healing, the change accepted, we come to a point where there is a calm within us. Sometimes this happens right after the “change”, sometimes a little while after. The chapter only closes once we have come through the “other side”.

Perhaps you are nodding, seeing all the chapters that went before this moment. Perhaps you are sighing, saying to yourself “ok this one needs an institution”.

I find understanding the process and the patterns in life calming, knowing that a chapter is at its climax and about to end settling. I knuckle down and focus on learning the lessons, on surviving and getting through it. I keep faith in that process and the fact that there is a reason behind it all. Keeping the faith and believing can be a constant battle of heart and mind, soul and spirit, some days are easier to get through, some days not so easy.

In my 24 years I have experienced many life chapters, some with harder more excruciating lessons than the others. Each lesson taught me an essential skill to enable me to go through the next, each helped me to grow and to be who I am today. My lessons were no less and no more than yours, they are just different.

There is no quantifying criteria nor badges awarded for the chapters we go through… just growth. Friends, family, passions, hobbies and sheer willpower will get you through each and every single one of them

Ultimately… you determine the speed at which you learn, you determine the success of each chapter and finally it’s up to you what you do with each that passes.

Go with the flow, if the shit is hitting the fan it means a new chapter is dawning and sunshine is on its way!