On holiday, amidst listening to the crashing waves while at the beach and trekking through the jungle to Mayan ruins I read One Day by David Nicholls. A story about Emma and Dexter over 20 years. It really is a very good read, well written and makes you think.
It got me thinking about the dreams we have when we are young and how our lives turn out. Sometimes we don’t know what it is we want to do and it can take time to find this out. Other times we know what we want but how do we get there?
As young people reach graduation they can feel like they should have their lives sorted and some will, they will have had a plan and be working towards it, but not all, and that’s ok. Our early twenties can be a time for exploration and trying things out, for travel and finding ourselves, for making mistakes and taking wrong turns.
Looking back on the past 30 years I started different things and am really pleased I didn’t pursue some of them ,a career in accountancy was not for me, but if I had stayed in hotels I may be managing a hotel in the Caribbean and I know I would have excelled. Instead I developed a career with the Post Office, climbing the ladder and learning and developing along the way. If I hadn’t done these various jobs and qualified as a psychologist, a counsellor and worked in business excellence and organisational change I doubt I would be where I am today, working for myself living in the country and planning to develop new business themes.
Looking back what would I have said to the younger me? To spend more time thinking about whom you are, to think about what gives you pleasure and to look if you can create a life and career doing this, and now … that’s what I’m doing with other people.
