Cat's Story

When I first started using YCNet I never thought I would be the person I am today and achieved my dreams in life. I’m a completely different person now to what I was back then. It’s been hard to get to this point but having the courage and determination with in myself has got me here.

When I was reaching the age of 19, I was totally terrified about moving on from YCNet just because it had been so beneficial to me and helped me see that others are in the same position as me. Whilst using YCNet I had began to believe in myself, build up my confidence and began to reach out for help from those in my everyday to day life. Yes it’s a frightening experience as it’s stepping out of your comfort zone. I just found that having strength and determination to make something of my life and doing it for myself. I thank Sam and Ewan both for making the transition really good and enabling me to move on. They believed in me that I could move on when I really thought I would struggle. To be able to say I have moved on and I’m happy I feel so proud.

I guess as I was providing emotional support made it in away slightly easier moving away from home to university. I did feel guilty and times being away from home and not being there for my dad and to go through it with my Mum. I was at university though because I wanted to be and achieve something that I wanted to out of my life and live my dream. If you want to go to university and have a career in mind I would say go for it! Work hard at it, enjoy it and you can get there. I found having a life away from home was really useful as I had the opportunity to enjoy life and make new friends away at university. I really notice when I went home in breaks that I was a stronger person, more able to cope with the tough times with my dad and knowing I could go back to university. It was in a way a chance for me to recharge my batteries. I did find that by not living in the thick of it daily I was able to provide much more beneficial support to my Dad and give my Mum a break.

The next stage of my life was finishing university, getting a job and my own place. I’m there now, have achieved my dream and happy! I do at times feel that living away from home and not caring for my dad means I have cut and run. But on the other hand I have my life to live. My Dad doesn’t want to change so all I can do for now is support him from a distance instead of living my life unhappy and for someone else. Doesn’t mean I don’t care about him as I do but to support my dad I have to be strong and happy within myself.

My advice to every one of you is if you want something go for it. You may not believe that you can do it but you can, believe you me! Or feel guilty about not being there for your family but you’re only human so will have those feelings. Find someone in your life that can support you when are having tough times and don’t think you can do. Having someone believe in you I have found can make the difference in your life. Life is what you make of it and you only live once. You can achieve your dreams what ever your circumstances.