Is a relationship just a job?

Thinking in to it, a lot more then I probably should have been, I came to the conclusion that relationships are like jobs. Having a boyfriend is very much like having a career.

But this isn't the same case when this person then becomes a husband or wife. In becoming the 'forever', they become more of a family member or a body part.

We go through life jumping from one relationship to another, going through exactly the same routine every time; the dates, the arguments, then the break-up. But, like a job, each one we go through gives us more experience and teaches us something; whether it's what 'not to do' next time, or just a quality we should look out for in our next. Although many jobs are only available to those of us with experience, a relationship is open to anybody. It's just that some struggle more than others to find them.

The application process is very much like the dating process also. A first date is very much like a job interview; it's the opportunity to learn about the other person and decide whether they're the right person. Because, at the end of the day, unless it's stated, a job and a relationship are both intended for the long-term, not the short.

The only way I'd say a career differs from a relationship is the 'get-out'. If someone were to hand me 4 weeks notice of the termination of our relationship, he'd be out the door in less than 4 minutes!

And this is why we should never mix work and pleasure; sleeping with your manager will only complicate things. Nobody can work two jobs in the same place at the same time.

Everybody is FAT

At the moment everybody is 'fat'. Apparently.

Everyone wants to diet, be a regular at the local gym and stop eating chocolate. But, despite thinking there was only so much that could be said on dieting, I was wrong. Very wrong. Every conversation, with every person I speak to, in some way and somehow, leads to dieting. What we shouldn't eat. What's bad for us. What time we should eat. Where we should eat. How we should eat. EVEN, who we should eat with!

SHUT UP!!

Ok, I exaggerated there a little bit. It's not that bad and I don't really mind, but it's gotten to the point where I'm feeling guilty letting anything pass my lips.

This week, as part of my university course, I am doing a documentary. I am the TV presenter and therefore I have been thrown head first in to a study of, 'Can students live off £10 per week?'.

Simple answer, NO.

I'm currently on the 4th day and I have 1 apple left. Whilst not being at uni, I have no routine and the only thing to think about it what my next meal will be. And, doing this little experiment sees me eating one crappy meal after another; almost to the point where I don't even want to eat.

I've 3 and a half, nearly 4, days left with 3 smart price packets of crisps and 1 apple to snack on, 2 jacket potatoes, a bit of pasta and 9 sausages. It's fair to say, I don't really have a meal to look forward to. Nor, am I finding my diet balanced, healthy, appropriate nor exciting.

Doing this, I've realised how much food affects your mood. Not being able to choose what I want to eat and when I want to eat it has really changed how I feel. I've felt energy-less, so much so that the first two days I had to have a nap in the afternoon! But, I've started to accept it now and when I get hungry I just eat bran flakes as I have plenty of those!

I can't wait until next week where I'll eat so much chicken breast, I'll be clucking by Friday.

Who should I be?

Everybody's different; no two people are the same, yet very few of us are proud of being that little bit different for the fear of being unaccepted.

Some people need a daily ego boost, so find themselves wearing, and saying things, for a reaction off other people. Then there's the few who dare to stand out. I'm not quite sure where I stand in it all, but I like to feel part of a group.

Sometimes I feel like I should act different, or dress differently, just to fit in. But I've started to ask myself, why am I doing this? And, why can't people just start accepting me for who I am?

At 13 I moved from Blackpool to the Lake District. There was a definite contrast from the moment I moved to the countryside. It was all waterproofs, jumpers and boots yet I was wearing tracksuits and Rockports. It's safe to say that the first non-uniform day pretty much ruined me; I waltzed in to school with my hoop earrings, sovereign ring, Nike trainers and Reebok tracksuit. Let's just say, I changed my attire for the second non-uniform day.

So moving from one place to another completely changed me. But that was down to a change in location, and I was 13; I'm not so sure we know who we really are at that age. And, I'd like to think that I would have changed in to the person I am now, no matter where I lived and who I spent my time with.

But it's different now. Today. I know who I am and I know who I want to be. Even so, the only person in my way is me. I find myself caring about what other people think far too much, despite trying not to make it obvious.

And it's the same with everyone; there comes a time when it all gets too much so I have to ask myself -

'Am I living for me, or everybody else?'

At the end of the day, being unique should be looked at more positively, because being a sheep isn't cool either.

There's nearly 7 billion people in the world, why do I worry about 1?

Our lives are totally dependent on people; we work around people, work with people, against people...

Everything we do is for, with or because of another person. And, even if we are doing something alone, for ourselves, unless we're locked inside our own houses with all forms of communication turned off, we'll never be doing it fully alone.

This got me thinking, how many people do we see on a day-to-day basis? Those of us who live in a city, or commute to work are likely to see hundreds of people everyday whom we'll never lapse eyes on again in our lifetime. How many people do we meet everyday is another question, how many of these people we see do we actually interact with and spark up some conversation, be it through work or just being polite?

So even if we only met two or three new people everyday (although I would say it's more) and we live for 80 years, taking almost 10 away for our mostly ignorant childhoods, that's 70 years of meeting 2 people every day. This would mean we met, on absolute average, 51,100 in our lifetimes. Yet, there's no way we could name them all, not even half.

Seeing someone is completely different to meeting someone. But on the other hand, no matter how mind boggling it is, in years to come we may cross paths, and become friends with one of the people we sat next to on a train, walked past in the street or were served by in Asda when doing our weekly shop.

When we think about our futures, we think who we will be with and where we will live with who, not what colour our hair will be or what condition our teeth will be in. Because, at the end of the day, being alone is no fun so the majority of us constantly surround ourselves with people whom we can interact and have a laugh with.

There's 6,840,507,000 people in the world; that's nearly 7 billion people. And we won't even see half of them in our lifetimes.

I don't know how many people we see in our lives, but it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to work out that we see alot.

So I ask myself, when one person says something horrible or does something to me, why do I worry when there's another 6,840,506,999 people in the world?

Just another day.

The news should come with a warning. Or, at the very least, an age rating.

Every day when we switch on the television, or open a paper, it's one bad story after another; attacks, stabbings, robberies or just one more scare-mongering story about the country heading even deeper in to economic crisis. Tell us something new!

Opening the Mirror today, page 3 was somewhat different to that of the one in our favourite 'comic' The Sun. It told a story which made me feel nervous, yet some people wouldn't bat an eyelid.

As I read about Tasmin Khan, the news anchor for Daybreak, I realised that nobody was safe in their career, nor in the world itself. And it's only too coincidental that whilst she worked to present bad news to the viewers, it was only a matter of time before she was at the receiving end of it. She's just one more person to be axed from her career in Broadcast; a career which she will have had to fight tooth and nail to succeed in. And that scares me. They claimed she was 'part of the old show which struggled, so she had to go'.

As I'm fast approaching the real world, it only seems to be getting tougher. It seems like it's survival of the fittest out there; it's a competition for your job, relationships and your livelihood. Even when you've succeeded, at the top of your game, you must ask yourself - 'How long will this last?'

And this is the point that I realise if I'm not going to enter the real world full throttle, full speed and with more energy than Jedward on drugs, then I may as well not enter at all.

New Year. New Start.

It's the same old cliche year after year.

And we all buy it.

I don't have any new year's resolutions, any plans to change myself because its 2012 or any ideas above my station like the other millions of deluded people who think, just because we're in 2012 and not 2011, things are different.

Everything's the same; time's just moved on.