Crash blogging... I'm not sure if this is a real thing, however if not i have now officially made up - Crash Blogging, trying to get as many posts as possible in one day =) i have some serious catching up to do.
First things first, about myself, when i first created this blog i was studying Textile Crafts at Huddersfield University, I specialise in knit however, unfortunately this was not necessarily by choice, however i dabbled in many other techniques such as embroidery, surface design, photography, print and many more. I love to take photographs and i also love to draw and paint. Anyways i'm going slightly off course here, my point is, my life has completely changed now. I have finished my second year at University now however i have gone on leave for a year now due to medical reasons, i have recently been diagnosed with Epilepsy i have been finding it hard to get it under control with my medication and to get used to having these fits. When they first began happening i began to lack at Uni my work started to get affected and so i thought the best thing to do would be to take some time out to get some rest bite, give myself a bit of 'me time' and to gradually get back into the flow of creativity.
However as i say things never seem to go to plan for me, i had a lot of trouble with finances during the period i left Uni, which was when the course finished in about July up until September, i was signed of from University in July/August time, so i was no longer a part of the Uni, however in the Governments eyes i was still 'technically' classed as a Student until the September (which in my eyes is completely ridiculous!) and so for about 3 months i was receiving no money what so ever and had to rely on my partners income. Obviously this put massive stress on us financially and even emotional, the lack of money meant sometimes we were so stressed we would argue quite frequently. We had to leave our lovely country home in Huddersfield and move back to our hometown Leeds and share a house with some of our old friends in order to save on things such as rent.
Since October i have now been 'on the sick' and receiving sickness benefit, which is hardly anything at all, this is the first time i have ever been on benefits and it has been a massive change, i now understand why people are complaining that people do not receive enough benefit, there is literally no help out there for people, particularly those who have been left with no funds for reasons beyond their control like me with health problems.
Anyway this downward spiral has not yet ended, the stress and the tension has led to me becoming seriously depressed, i have completely lost my 'mojo' for my work, i no longer feel i/my work is not good enough, i don't feel like myself anymore, i dont enjoy doing the things i used to enjoy anymore. This has meant that i haven't done nearly as much work as i planned to do this year as i haven't felt up to it which isn't going to help me when i return to University, i believe creativity is well practised and if the artist does not keep up with it then certain aspects will lack in perfection.
