Banservatory

Its that time of year. Housing Awareness week is in full swing and every day my inbox is spammed with multiple requests for flatmates. There is even a meme for this madness.

Everywhere I look people seem to be active about finding accomodation next year. Today, a group of my flatmates went to view their first house. They viewed it in 15 minutes and signed it within 30. And it has a conservatory, or banservatory as they like to call it, the banter room. Not sure how long that will last when winter draws in. How can it be so easy for them to just pick a house and decide on it when my group have seen 4 different properties, are umm-ing and ahh-ing about them, applying through different routes and generally stalling and making no decisions! Can we please just pick a house and go for it? By messing landlords about and being awkward and inconsistent we lose our credibility as tennants.

We're at a stage in our lives where the reigns of independence are being slowly relinquished by our parents and passed over to us. Surely, at this age, they hold just a guiding hand over the reigns. Tweaking every now and again to ensure we stay on track but act as a more supportive role than anything. That's how my parents are at least. They are happy to consult with me and give advice but ultimately accept the decisions I make for myself whilst still being there to help if things go wrong. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I want to make my own mistakes! I want to do things wrong, to be in difficult situations. I want to have the challenge of figuring out how to fix a problem. What processes do I go through? How able am I to cope?

Because we aren't fully independent. Still tucked under the sheltering wing of the university and our families we are in the perfect situation to stretch and challenge ourselves, to work at being the young adults we desire to be. So yes, let's be sensible. Let's not be rash or hasty. Let's make decisions based on knowledge and advice. But please let's be our own people, let what we decide come from us- don't just repeat a filtered version of your mothers opinion. Live your own life!