5 weeks to go until the semi finals of Miss England 2013. Just over 6 months ago on Thursday 11th October 2012 I was elected Miss Gloucester 2013, and after thinking the time would never pass, it's only five weeks away. It's scary really how fast time can fly when you're not paying attention to it. It's like that feeling you get when you just step onto a rollercoaster and you're locked in. Your stomachs turning, you don't know exactly what will happen but you know roughly what to expect, you're terrified but also excited. You're just waiting for the ride to start moving hoping for the best. We all have stresses and worries in our lives whether it is family troubles, work worries, or just the future in general. But it's how you handle that stress that defines whether or not you'll pull through it. It can either make or break you.
A very hyperactive vicars wife once told me that you should compare your life to a caterpillar. Stage 1: it spends its life working so hard, getting the right nutrients and pulling itself along no matter how difficult so it can become a butterfly some day. This is the point I'm at, working hard, getting all the experience I can so that eventually I can achieve my goals and dreams, pulling myself along even when the going gets tough just because I can imagine getting my metaphorical wings.
Stage 2: The caterpillar hides away from predators, finds a safe place, stops what it's doing and cocoons itself ready to metamorphosize into a butterfly. For a person this stage needs to be repeated regularly. Standing back from the world and all our troubles, looking back on the hard work you've done and organizing your thoughts so that you know what to do next to move forward. Finding a safe place, mine is with my family. Getting out of reach of predators, the people who try to hold you back or knock you down. And stopping in the mad rush and continuous thoughts to reevaluate whether you're still on the right track.
Stage 3: The final stage. When you need to use all your might to break out of that cocoon. No matter how difficult not giving up until you break free. Going through the pain and struggle of growing your wings. Until finally you break free, spread your wings and soar, leaving that old shell behind. This is the part where you achieve your goals, the bit that's the most difficult. If all dreams were easy to achieve everyone would do it. You give it everything you've got to get where you want to be, until you can spread those wings and fly, leaving the shell of your old life behind and beginning your new one, being able to look back at the hard work you've put in and see the results at the end.
Whether it be moving out, getting a new job, winning a competition, starting a family, battling an illness, the list goes on. Anything that can cause you stress and makes you think it's easier to give up and avoid disappointment. You need to step back and remember why you started in the first place and what you'll get at the end of it all. I don't know if I'll get through to the finals of Miss England, or whether this has just been the best rollercoaster year of my life that wasn't meant to be anything more than another step up the ladder. But whatever the outcome it was worth every second. And as my year as Miss Gloucester 2013 gets closer and closer to ending, I can't help but appreciate it ever started.
