A Great Perhaps

This blog writing stuff is hard. As someone who has stalked followed so many different blogs for so long, you'd think I'd be more capable of writing one for myself. Regardless, I'm writing this post, first and foremost as procrastination for studying for my politics exam tomorrow, but also as a bit of an introduction and explanation.

Firstly, a brief explanation of my URL and blog title.
I often wonder about the stories behind other people's blog titles so I thought this would be an appropriate introduction. I always find creating URLs/usernames/screen names etc. particularly difficult and spend far too long debating different names, only to settle on something I inevitably regret and am embarrassed about (designerskyline as a youtube username anyone? 14 year old me did not foresee outgrowing my love for owl city...).
So hopefully I won't regret these, but who knows. Both names come from quotes that I have a particular love for; my URL from a quote by the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, and blog title from another poet, Francois Rabelais', last words. This makes me sound far more literary and sophisticated than I actually am- I came across the Emerson quote on somebody else's blog, and the Rabelais quote through John Green's novel, Looking for Alaska.

The full Emerson quote reads:

"It is easy in this world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude"

This is a quote I can relate to particularly well. I often find myself too easily swayed by the opinions of others at the expense of forming my own, and this quote is a good reminder to avoid this and learn to, you know, become my own person. The independence of solitude is a wonderful thing that tends to rapidly escape from me when in the company of more than a few people, particularly those who I find intimidating (I find nearly everyone intimidating. Not in the sense that I'm scared of them, more in the "oh my god you are so intelligent/beautiful/charismatic why are you even talking to me " kind of way. This is also something I am working on).

The second quote, from Rabelais and for me, from Looking for Alaska, relates more to the traveling adventure I hope to embark on late this year/early next year and really, the choices I have to make about my future. I'm going to write out the quote from the book because that's where I got it from and it's one of the reasons it has meaning for me.

"Francois Rabelais. He was a poet. And his last words were "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps."

I feel like the 'Great Perhaps' is a good way to describe what me and many of the people I know are currently facing. We find ourselves at a time in our lives when we are forced to make choices about university education and different courses and careers, and I know that many of us are struggling with it. After completing a semester of university in a course that may or may not lead me to where I want to go in life, I find myself thinking about the future. And while it's scary and frustrating to have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life, the idea that I can do whatever I want is liberating. Ideally, in the next year or so I'll be able to save enough money to go travelling and seek my own Great Perhaps. All I really want to do is travel.

That was nowhere near as brief nor as eloquent as I would have liked, but the time has come to face my politics book so it will have to do.