The difference a year makes

Life update I guess?

It’s been a while, eh? A whole year, actually. A lot has changed!

For most of 2025 I was stuck in a job I didn’t like and it just got worse. My creativity was sapped and I didn’t feel like writing very much. I did a piece about my complicated feelings on working in hospitality but in the end it didn’t feel right to share. I went through some personal stuff too last year and soon started looking for other work.

If you’ve tried to get a job in the past few years, you’ll know how rough it is. Rejection after rejection after ghosted application. I was applying for anything and everything in hospitality and media with no success - a couple of trial shifts here and there, but I never made the cut.

Until one day in August, I saw a bakery in Edinburgh was hiring on Instagram. Would I really want to commute that far? I thought. F*ck it. I sent the owner an email, expecting nothing. I’d learned not to get my hopes up about anything anymore.

But she replied and I got a trial shift. I loved it and thought I’d done well, but again tried not to get too excited. I’d fallen at the final hurdle a lot lately.

In a moment of delusion, I handed in my notice at the restaurant - I couldn’t put up with it anymore. I had enough saved up to not work for a few months if it came to it, but it didn’t. By some miracle, I got offered the bakery job a few days later.

All of a sudden I was searching train timetables, buying a bike off Facebook and setting my alarm for 5am. I realise this all sounds a bit mad (and I probably am) but I’m still doing it all five months later and I’m the happiest I’ve been in a while.

Not working in a customer facing role certainly helps (the general public are generally awful). I get to be much more creative and I have way more of a structured week than I used to. The people are brilliant too - I get to be myself at work in a way I’ve never really been able to before.

I’m certainly not where I thought I’d be when I left uni, but I’m trying to make peace with that and work on my definition of success. I’m good at this job, it makes me happy and I’m making enough money to do most of the things I want to do - that’s pretty great.

So, let’s hope my next post isn’t a year away this time. Maybe a quick round up of my favourite finds of 2025? I did eat a lot of good food last year and I’m sure I’ll do the same in 2026.

Freya <3