Around November time my mental health started affecting me more negatively in my day to day, and eventually it got to the point where I had to be signed off college from mid December until mid January. During the time I was off I didn’t do any work as I was convinced I was too unwell to continue with my studies and so didn’t feel there was much point. However, after changing my medication and seeing a new psychiatrist I started to feel a bit better and so in January I spoke with both my lecturers and they were keen for me to stay on. Their positivity and faith in me made me feel a lot more confident in my abilities and I decided that I wanted to finish my HND, and hopefully then carry on to the BA afterwards as well!
So I’ve now been back at college since mid January and there has been a LOT to catch up on. So far I am almost finished everything I was behind on, with the exception of Creative Industries as I still have some proofing to do before I post that. However, I plan to have everything finished by tonight and I am feeling a lot more positive for it.
Last week in particular was really hectic as I had my Graded Unit submission due on Friday! The previous Friday we had all had a meeting with our lecturers to briefly go over our Graded Unit and advise if there were any red flags. Overall, my meeting went well and while I did have things to change it wasn’t a lot. However, once I started working on it again after my meeting I ended up changing more than I had originally planned and so this took longer than expected. On Friday I also had my interior architecture shoot planned as the arrangement I had the previous week for the same shoot had had to be cancelled due to my friend taking unwell so I rescheduled for Friday the 8th February.
This added a bit of stress to my day as I had to travel into the centre of Edinburgh in the morning where I got my Graded Unit printed and bound (which looked so cool !), and then I walked to the Parliament where I spent between 3 and 4 hours getting set up and shooting, before having lunch and then heading out of Edinburgh to the college so I could drop off my submission.
This week we are actually on holiday from college and so I am hoping to get out at least once this week to do some of my documentary images in Edinburgh as I haven’t done much of that since we started the unit!
The past few months have been really up and down for me, but I’m really glad I decided to go back to college afterall. Since being back I have felt more myself, and the excitement of trying new things and planning my Graded Unit have also helped to lift my mood a lot as well. Now until June will be a lot of hard work but I know I’m going to really enjoy everything I will learn along the way, and hopefully my hard work will pay off and I can continue my studies into the BA this September!
Jade Taylor Photography 