This is a very last-minute article, and it will be quite short (blame exam season for that), but it’s a Monday and I have a reason to be happy, so here we are. Yesterday I went to Glasgow to get a tattoo! That’s the short version I told anyone who asked me. I didn’t lie, and my little house tattoo is proof of that. However, my trip to Glasgow was a bit more symbolic than that. Two months ago, I also went to Glasgow and got a tattoo there (shout out to Phia, one of the kindest tattoo artists I met). That day was one of the lowest points for me during the semester. I thought that leaving Aberdeen for a day would positively affect me, as I usually love travelling alone, and I have so many cosy cafès I want to try in Glasgow. The plan was to have a day for me to recharge and explore a bit; instead, I ended up overthinking, feeling bad about my life and having to call my mum to avoid making worse and more permanent decisions.
Since that day, I have healed a lot, and even though I know there’s still a long way to go, I am proud of how far I have come.
Therefore, one week ago, I decided it was time to go back to Glasgow and celebrate my still being here and feeling better about my life and the people surrounding me. Moreover, after the last trip, I started to feel scared of travelling alone, that I was not strong enough to deal with it, and I wanted to prove to myself that I can enjoy my own company and have a good time exploring a new city. So, I arranged a new tattoo appointment with Phia, and yesterday I hopped on the bus to Glasgow. For once, the weather was on my side, so I got some sushi at a supermarket and ate it on a bench in the Botanical gardens, the mild sun warming my face. After getting my tattoo, I continued my exploration by going to the Christmas markets—undoubtedly my favourite place to be from November onward— and got overpriced biscoff pancakes. To conclude the day, I went to a ramen place I’ve been wanting to try for months, Maki&Ramen (not an adv, unfortunately), and I got mesmerised by the number of post-it notes attached on the walls, written in many different languages, with ramen drawings, ratings and so on. There was a long post-it written in Chinese, I sent it to my mum asking for a translation, and she said that it was a wish for everyone to be happy and be grateful for the things you have in life, and that bad times always end.
So that’s my advice today. Easy, cheesy, dull, nevertheless true. Don’t give up, bad times will end, and you will be able to smile again. If not today, if not tomorrow, one day, pinky promise.
Have a Yellow Week.