Ms Paula Bee

For those of you who are new to my blog, or maybe you just didn’t know – I graduated in April this year! I officially have my honours degree in Psychology. You may be thinking “Wow! Psychology and being a blogger/YouTuber are like two complete opposites” You may be right and I thought I was too, but in actual fact, we’re both wrong. What I’ve come to realize is that psychology is all about working with people, and trying to understand human behaviour. That does not necessarily mean that I should be sitting in an office with a client, but instead it means that I am constantly working with people and learning how to interact with them.

Anyway, that’s not the point of this post. This post is actually a tribute to my five-year degree that I spent lots and lots of time to achieve.

I started studying in 2012. Initially, my plan was to study Fine Arts at UCT but that just didn’t happen. Although I was accepted, my parents felt that I needed a degree that would stand as my “plan B”, should “plan A” not work out. Thus my interest in studying came about. I was always told that I am a good listener in high school – my friends would always come over for tea and biscuits after school to chat, and it would always end up being a venting session for them. This is where I sort of realized that I developed a genuine love for helping others around me.

I think that I should add that I initially didn’t want to go the the university where I obtained my degree. I felt as though it was too much like school because the classes were so small and your parents would be called if you bunked a few classes. In bigger universities, such as UWC or UCT, no one even notices if you’re missing class. Its sort of like “you need to put on your big girl pants and take responsibility”, whereas at the university I attended, people would get in touch with your parents if you didn’t show up to class. In the beginning, this was an issue for me. I wanted to experience what it felt like to be a proper uni kid, where I could bunk class and watch tele with my friends instead. Little did I know that I needed that discipline in my life, and I am so thankful that I was curbed during those years. Over the years, I learned how to take responsibility for my actions and plan my schedule constructively.

Over the years, I grew and found out not only a lot about others, but also myself. I realized where certain deep-rooted issues developed; why I may be so sensitive; and why humans do certain things. I learned that I am actually quite in tune with my emotions, but even more so with others. I’ve learned to genuinely empathize with others, and discuss real life issues beyond the superficial things such as clothing or what’s trending. Its almost like wearing two complete opposite hats in my life, but I love it and am slowly learning to adapt to this new life that I’m creating. 2016 was the real game-changer for me. I can’t discuss in detail what it was all about, but one things is for sure – I learned so much from all those that I came into contact with. Each day was interesting as it challenged me to become better in my field and push me as a person. I thoroughly enjoyed my thesis, which I never thought I’d say if you asked me in the beginning of 2016. In actual fact, at the end of the year I achieved a distinction for my thesis! It was a psychobiography on John Wayne Gacy, and I had an absolute blast putting it all together.

Over the years, I’ve met some really awesome people who I’ve made some great (and hilarious) memories with that I will treasure forever. My few friends from uni, Courtney, Anneke, and Ryan – thank you for being a great support system in the past few years while we were studying. I think its so important to have lots of fun after doing lots of work, and these people made it really easy to have lots of fun. We would often get put together for group assignments but end up dancing around like fools and singing really loudly to some obnoxious, catchy tune. This is what makes for great memories later in life, and I definitely made lots of those!

About the Outfit

I had no idea what I wanted to wear for my special day. I wanted something longer, but still stylish and kind of “out there”. I wanted something that would still be seen as appropriate but still me at the end of the day. I saw this dress from Infini8ti on sale at the famous YDE sale at the beginning of February (I think) sometime and knew I had to have it. The shoes were gifted to me by Zoom Shoes a few weeks before my graduation day and it suited the entire outfit so well. Thank you, Zoom!

Until next time,