N - Notice

Too much of my time, I find, is spent trying to make people like me. I’m not the kind of person who makes friends easily. Being friendly is easy, but actually making best friends, having people who would rather hang out with you than anyone else, that’s a connection I haven’t been able to make too much in my life.

M - Myeloma

Myeloma is a cancer of the blood, and something I know more about that I would ever wish to. In 2007, my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. The cause of Myeloma is unknown, and it is also an incurable form of cancer, as of now, but there are groups working on a cure.

L - Living

People always talk about living life to the full, but a shocking amount of people don’t. All I hear is what people want to do, but if you want to do something, today is the day to start. Not when you’re older, or wiser. Want to do something? Do it now.

K - Katniss

I read the Hunger Games before most people I know, which is something I like to point out when people announce that they have just bought the box set of the Hunger Games. I tell them of my plight in having to wait until the second and third books were released. When people tell me with wide eyes about the ending of Catching Fire, I raise an eyebrow and tell them just how many months I had to wait for Mockingjay to come out, while all they have to do is select the next volume in their box set.

J - Journeys

I don’t know any teenager who doesn’t have a list of journeys. Places they have to go before they get caught up in life and tied down to a house and a job. In that brief time between Secondary School and College, the world is their oyster, and they could go anywhere, be anyone.

If you have a serious conversation with any teenager, their journey will eventually come out. I don’t know anyone who has no interest in exploring the world beyond cold, wet Ireland. I count myself firmly within that majority, if not universal, group who need to see some of the world before it gets buried beneath boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, children, houses and jobs.