The past month or so has passed in a peculiar way, I can’t quite figure out if time has stumbled and tripped across the finish line of 2020, or whether it has positively sprinted by. Now that I’m a Lifestyle Editor (which is so exciting!), I have started to think about what my ‘lifestyle’ actually entails. In other words, beyond drinking too much tea (I actually think I am system-dependent on it) and talking about the weather, what do I actually do with my time? After having a momentary crisis of questioning whether I actually have any lifestyle at all – which is still debatable – I thought I’d document this crisis for the whole of Varsity to see.

I’d say that ‘lifestyle’ consists of whatever we do to fill the time – a profound and original definition, I know. Recently, the lifestyles of many have been thrown into considerable darkness, given the fact that structure died a certain death in 2020. As luck would have it, though, my whole existence is a structureless phenomenon, so lockdown hasn’t changed things drastically in that regard. If anything, it has taught me that having a lifestyle with gaps and plenty of tea-breaks is actually very acceptable and that I don’t need to feel guilty for not writing essays all the time. Essay writing, as it turns out, does not equal happiness and self-fulfilment and time spent not essay writing is not time wasted at all. This is quite a convenient conclusion if I’m honest, because my essay writing won’t be winning awards any time soon, and I wouldn’t sacrifice tea breaks for the world.

“As luck would have it, though, my whole existence is a structureless phenomenon so lockdown hasn’t changed things drastically in that regard”

I realise I promised a day in the life, but that I have provided two paragraphs worth of tangents instead, so here goes. Yesterday I woke up just before 1pm and spent a considerable amount of time gathering the courage to leave bed. I know that’s abysmal and I should probably be ashamed of not capturing the daylight and carpe-ing the diem or whatever, but old habits die hard (or, as it would appear, not at all). When I eventually made it to the kitchen, I grabbed a cup of tea and proceeded to spill half of it over me which is, unfortunately, a very common occurrence. Then I stared at the ceiling for a while willing myself to wake up, glossing over dad’s comment about how he was up ‘since the crack of dawn’ or something. A few cups of tea later, I tried and failed to fix the fairy lights in my room and then proceeded to read a little of Laurie Lee’s I Can’t Stay Long, accompanied by some of the few remaining Christmas chocolates. It’s quite a gentle and cosy read, but almost too cosy so that my reading progress is slow because I keep drifting off to sleep (oops).

“I think I might just treat myself to another cup of tea – for safekeeping, of course”

After ‘reading’, I facetimed my friend for a bit and we talked about nothing in particular, which is without a doubt my favourite topic of conversation. Following this, I was about to set off to meet my friend Flo, when she texted asking me to be five minutes late – which is proof that not all heroes wear capes if ever you need any. Armed with hot chocolate and my new knitted scarf, I proceeded to be about fifteen minutes late, meaning that Flo and I were another ten minutes late to the park, where we added another two to our company (just to clarify I’m in tier 3!). Or I was in tier 3 actually, as I am editing this four days later in a tier 3-less world. R.I.P. Anyway, we had a campfire and it was wonderful and warm (as you would hope) and the conversation flowed and we completely forgot about the cold and the ice until I slipped of course. I got home at midnight, shivering because I didn’t have a portable fire unfortunately; called my friend (I’m a real chatterbox in case you couldn’t tell), talked to my sisters, read a little, and fell asleep at maybe 4 or 5, just in time for the dawn chorus to serenade me to sleep. Oh, the joy.

Skip forward four days now because, being me, I forgot to finish the article, and yes, it has taken a week to reach this final paragraph. Today I woke up at 1 (again). It would appear that the only consistency in my life is that I can’t deal with the mornings. I lazed around for a while, but probably looked too relaxed, as the parents sent me to pick up my brothers from school. When they saw me their eyes widened with horror as it dawned upon them that I was their driver. ‘You are definitely going to crash’, asserted my eight year old brother with disdain. I ended the journey with a radiant grin, as I managed to prove him wrong (what a win). Now that I have *finally* finished this article, I think I might just treat myself to another cup of tea-for safekeeping, of course.

It’s not like I’m going anywhere any time soon…