Charlotte's story

"I want to try and cherish that, rather than worry what is going to happen in the future."

The only person that completely inspires me is my mum, if I grew up to be half the woman she is I would be so proud. If it wasn’t for her convincing me that university was the right thing for me, then I wouldn’t have come at all. I think she wished she had gone to university. She means a lot to me, and I only live about half an hour away, as it was really important that I stayed close to home.

I live with six people at the moment, and every single one of them is completely unique in their own way. Me and my best friend, who I live with, went shopping yesterday and literally just jammed out in the car to a bunch of Christmas songs! All of my housemates are the nicest people.

I went through ten years of bullying during school. It was constant, and I never understood where it came from. I tried my best to kind of separate myself from it, but it just always seemed to come my way. So now, one of the most important things in life for me is to see that other people are happy. I work as the entertainment host for the Students’ Union, so I host Milk It Nights. I know there are people out there suffering from mental health issues, so if someone comes to just one night I host and has the best night and creates memories, then that would mean the world to me. It was so important for me that I got that job, I really wanted it!

At the moment, I’m trying to push the fear aside that all good things come to an end. I’ve had an absolute blast since I moved here, and I just keep thinking that I’ve never had this long without something failing to pieces in my life. A lot of my best friends previously have turned on me, and made my life a living hell. I just fear that will happen again. But I know what it’s like to feel like you have nothing, and to feel like there is no point. Now I have so much to be grateful for, and I want to try and cherish that, rather than worry what is going to happen in the future.

I do believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and you are the only one that can decide what happens in your life. I see a lot of people who go through bad things, and choose to let that define who they are. But I want to show every single bully that I am successful. My advice would be to keep striving, to do everything and prove them wrong, because you will, and it does get better.