For me there were many, many reasons that led to the abundance of stress tainting my year but for the sake of all of us reading this, I’ll start from the beginning.

This year was my third and final year at university studying a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism). Many dub the com’s degree as a bludge course but it really isn’t.

The worst part about going into your final year at uni is, to be frank, you just want it to be over and done with, but your assignment schedule has other ideas.

And, while you may finish your assignment on time, you still stress for those weeks prior to receiving your mark because you honestly have no idea how you put pen to paper with that one.

But before I get too passionate about this topic, I’ll just say your final year at uni is probably going to be the worst in terms of stress wise.

Next up in the stress calendar was the pressure to find a job.

If you are/have/want/ to be a journalist, you would have heard these words many times before – “You’re never going to find a job as a journalist. The industry is dying”.

As a person who has dedicated their career to the news industry, that’s a pretty daunting thing to hear.

It’s not just random people who tell you that, your university lecturers will tell you the same thing except dress it as now you have to fight to the death to get that job where social media is key.

Thankfully the right choices led me to gain employment, hence my ability to write this for you, but not feeling like you’re ever going to find a job in a particular career is one of the most awful feelings. Trust me.

Next, it was honestly just getting through the last few months of the year.

Lots of things changed. For me it was friendships that dissolved while others bloomed, moving to a new town and living away from my family for the first time, learning how to actually manage things like a full time job with social life, while the rest was a little more simple - deciding on a new flavour of chocolate instead of your go to.

I guess what I’m saying here is 2018 taught me a lot of things, but mostly how to handle situations where you feel like the stress is never going to end.

Well, some words of advice for you, don’t worry about it. Seriously, don’t.

It’s totally ok to not feel fine, it’s more than ok to lose some friends, it’s seriously ok for you to have a break from something - just do what’s best for you because at the end of the day, you’re number one.

Always take care of number one.