Being a
woman, full stop, is stressful but being a young woman in particular is stressful
as hell! I’ve always been a fairly positive person. I didn’t get upset on a
daily basis, in fact I was the complete opposite. I pushed on and on and on
until I came crashing down in one big heap; but that was cool because it meant
I had a couple of hours of very ugly, snotty crying and blubbering to my mum
and then I was fine and back on track. That was before I had fully understood
and taken on the responsibilities of being a young woman, and before I had been
thrown into the ‘real world’- I was merely a teenager.
So what
makes it so scary?... Why do so many people crack when they move out? And why
does stress wiggle its way in? It’s because we’re female- To stress is in our
DNA and let’s face it, most of the time we have it a lot harder than blokes
(ooo… they’ll be uproar over this!). Of course men say they have it harder, and
women say they have it harder; the battle will continue forever, but I really
do think it’s harder to be a girl- ESPECIALLY in today’s society. Here’s a few
things I think make it so stressful being a young woman and why I think my own stress levels have peaked from moving out
and growing up!
1.
University- Obviously this doesn’t
just relate to women but to everyone.
The venture into further education is difficult and stressful, the time
limits, the essays and the decisions are all laid out in front of us,
ready to make us decide what career we
want to have in the future. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think it’s
scary and ridiculous to try and pick what we want to do in the future at that
age; I can’t make a clear judgment what path I want to take because once you’re
on one path, it’s very difficult to
switch. I made the jump into university this year after having a year out… I
decided to go down the path I never thought I would and after all the stress,
I’ve been left (after only one and half semesters) extremely disappointed. You
can read my post of whether University is actually worth it HERE. Another
thing that does not help our stress levels is the lack of organisation, and the
awful systems we have to slog through to get funding, or to even just apply- I
swear they’ve been designed to make young people go crazy! Student Finance is
the devil-haha!
2.
Moving Out- Many people move out
when they attend university. Even if you don’t go to uni that change, whenever
you make it, is a shock to the system and suddenly you have to think about
things you’ve never even considered before like making sure your clothes are
washed, or having enough money to pay for a broken toilet- or whatever it might
be! Many of us (and I’m guilty of this!) rely on our parents wayyy too much. I
was used to spending my time sat round my kitchen table passing home cooked
food around and laughing, I was used to having my mum and dad about to drive me
to a party, or take me to buy an outfit.
I’ve now moved in with the most amazing guy I know, and the love of my
life and having to go from such a sheltered family orientated life to living a
couples life in a city (when I’m from the hills) it can take a lot of time to
adjust. Despite this however I’m rather
enjoying playing house wife girlfriend, making budgets and going food
shopping just satisfies my inner
independence perfectly. Moving on from the stress is the hard part, but jumping
into my new role with full force is definitely the best way, as nobody wants to
be a rubbish housewife, who cries all the time right?!
3.
Money- The evident lack of money for
most of us young women is stressful in the most materialistic way. We all want
to be the next Olivia Palermo and have a new outfit every day and use the
newest high end makeup products- but it can’t be done on a student loan or a
part time job that pays an hourly rate that shouldn’t be allowed to exist. Money is a horrible thing to want to have, I
wish I could live carefree and without worry about how much is in my bank but unfortunately
in today’s society you have to care, because everything costs- A LOT! For me, buying the newest fashion item or
going on a night out is not important and I can do without, but the smaller things,
like worrying about buying one of my family a birthday present, or wanting to
spoil my boyfriend to a nice meal, are what cause the stress and it’s horrible.
BUT like everything else… It won’t last .Work your ass off and keep a positive
outlook and you’ll be able to buy and do all the things you wish- and it’ll
feel so much more special.
4.
Anxiety/ hormones- Hormones are a
woman’s worst nightmare, they make us cry over dropping a biscuit in our
freshly made brew (Yes- I genuinely cried over this the other day) and make us
snap and become a bitch when it’s our
time of the month- and we really can’t help it! More than anything it’s
exhausting crying all the time about anything and everything and most of the
time nothing; it’s horrible and can happen at any time. Boo being a woman!!! I
know many people that also suffer from anxiety, although I don’t particularly
suffer from it myself I do have moments of nervousness, and like the hormones
it can happen in situations I would never have expected. Being a woman can be
scary because, by default, you’re weaker, often smaller and that’s where my
nerves lie. An example of this is walking around at night … something that
shouldn’t be that scary but a dodgy glance from a stranger, or a man walking
past with a hood up can trigger the overthinking and that destructive mind set .
Not every person with a hood up is gonna stab you or worse… not every person is
malicious but there’s just something in thinking ‘what if’ that creeps into our
heads and invades our thoughts.
5.
Being hot/ fitting in with the stereotypes-
This is sooo not me, I never cared about looking a certain way, or having the
perfect sized boobs or any of it- but it IS a major worry for so many girls. We
have it drilled into us at every move that we need to be a certain weight and
shape to be “hot”. With statistics on
what size boobs guys like the most or whether blondes are more attractive than brunettes….
It’s too much!!! All these ideas that get thrown at us are completely
unattainable yet it doesn’t stop so many young people starving and puking their
way into their “dream” bodies- it’s not natural, and it shouldn’t be done. No
stress should be caused by the way you look- I have a moustache (haha!), I
don’t have big boobs, and I don’t go to the gym everyday (or at all! Haha) but
I found my soul mate, and there is one out there for all of us. What if changing
the way you look and ruining your natural beauty means that you’ll miss out on
yours? because they’ll be looking for the girl you were,not the girl you now
are.
