The future can be a daunting subject to discuss. It seems as though every day as individuals, we can face new challenges that reshape our future or we are faced with events that throw the entire world off-balance. For some people, however, the future can be a place of hope and optimism that allow us to escape our current realities.
This Galentine’s day, Her Campus Brighton has partnered with Her Campus Leeds to release a series of interviews on a variety of different themes and topics. I was given the opportunity to group up with the lovely Ellis Idris and Caterina Bertini, where I got to ask them questions about the future and what it means to them. Below is that conversation.
Introduce yourself! Tell me what you study, what your interests are and how you’re feeling right now in the present.
Ellis: “My name is Ellis, I’m 21 years old and I’m in my final year at the University of Leeds studying Journalism. My interests include writing, sports, music and travelling. I’m feeling good about the present – sad that this chapter of my life is coming to an end but happy that I’ve had a great time and I’m making the most of what’s left.”
Caterina: “My name is Caterina – although people in England call me Cat as it’s easier to pronounce, and I am doing a Master in International Journalism at the University of Leeds. I am originally from Italy but I have been living in England for almost four years now. I like writing and chilling with my friends. I love doing creative activities but I am not too good at any of them… I’m not giving up though! I’m quite passionate about human rights, something that I took from my undergraduate years where I studied Politics with Human Rights. I guess my present seems alright now… I am entering the stage of a master’s where you have to start putting down drafts for your dissertation so that is very exciting but also very scary. Overall things are fine, 2022 has been much kinder to me than 2021 so far!”
Do you feel as though we are in control of our futures through things such as manifestation, or do you feel that the future is unexpected/uncontrollable?
Ellis: “I think that we’re in control of the future to an extent. You can’t predict the future specifically but you can take actions and make decisions that can influence the future.”
Caterina: “I never fully understood what manifestation was until recently. One of my closest friends told me she manifested her current relationship, she was so in love with her partner and wanted to make it work. I started doing it as a silly game, I don’t know if it really works but living with happy thoughts and confidence has definitely helped me so far! I am a person who loves to plan things, I feel quite uncomfortable when things happen out of my control, so I like to think my future may be as beautiful as I plan it to be. But I think after Covid I’ve started realising that there will always be things that I can’t change or prevent, and I need to be okay with that. So now the future is a mix of goals and uncertainties.”
Think about your future self. What kind of person do you want to be? E.g. habits to let go of, communication, inner circles, spiritually or mentally.
Ellis: “I hope to be a happier and more confident self in the future. I want to be content and find peace in my life even through the chaos of it all. I hope to be a better communicator as sometimes I struggle to truly express my feelings and I hope that I’ve maintained all of my inner circles as I’ve met some incredible people recently.”
Caterina: “I definitely want to be someone who is able to love herself the same way is able to love others. I have struggled a lot with self-love in the past years and that really impacted the way I see myself and how I deal with issues. I never forgive myself, and I never let things go. Now I am working on myself much more, I am focusing on my happiness and my dreams much more so I hope I will be able to finally reach a point in my life where I no longer feel bad for being me. I want to be happy and proud, and mostly enough. I also would like to stop smoking – I only smoke socially, but I’d like to quit anyway – and I would like to be able to share my feelings with people I love the way I am supposed to. I get quite anxious when I have to talk about myself (I guess that’s why I love writing so much) so I’d like to be able to express myself without my insecurities. Hopefully, I’ll find a job which can satisfy me completely, I wouldn’t want to be someone who hates their job, I don’t think I could cope with that…”
The covid-19 pandemic sent the world into chaos! Do you feel as though the pandemic reshaped your goals or plans for the future? If so, how and why?
Ellis: “I wouldn’t say that the pandemic reshaped my goals for the future as they have stayed the same since before coming university up until now but it has opened me up to the possibility of staying in Leeds past graduation for a little longer than I initially planned as I feel like covid has robbed me of experiencing it at its fullest.”
Caterina: “I think the pandemic has really brought me to a dark place which I am trying to leave only now. I wouldn’t say I had my whole future written down, ready to be lived, but I had much more inspiration and ambitions before. I think it made me realise how things can change out of our control, and made me see things I was too naïve or young to see. So I guess right now I am trying to build something stable keeping that in mind. I don’t want to hold something too high, I don’t want to follow only one single path and forget about the rest, because you never know what’s going to happen. I want to leave each door open so I don’t feel like I am giving up on anything.”
What issue or conflict in the world would you like to see resolved in the next 10 years? How do you feel that we as a society can take steps towards this?
Ellis: “In an ideal world, I’d like to see the issue of safety concerning women be resolved in the next 10 years. I think that as a society, we should raise as much awareness and hold protests whenever that safety is violated as well as educate the community on how to ensure safety for women. I can imagine that it wouldn’t be an easy achievement and it will be a long process but every little bit helps. We need to be consistent and put pressure so that we can work towards a safer world for women.”
Caterina: “Personally, I would want the world to be much kinder with migrants and refugees. The idea of “building your own future” is not always possible. We are lucky to be from the rich side of the world, which allows us to have dreams to realise, but we need to understand it’s not something that applies to everyone. There are millions of people seeking help and refuge in our countries, and we can’t ignore that. We can’t ignore those who try reaching our coasts, those who have drowned in the sea and those who can’t even leave their country. We need to be better. We are responsible for them, as well. It’s our duty as human beings to be compassionate in front of injustices and do anything in our power to prevent them. I think humankind has always been driven by money and power, but that has just created wars and poverty. We need a better plan. I hope the future will be much more just, for everyone. No one should die while crossing the sea. No one should die for the hope of a better life.”
