Monday 11 June 2007

Life: the story so far...


Today I got back from the Isle of Wight Festival. The last one I went to I was 17 with long hair, pierced eyebrow and a whole summer of avoiding work at all costs and generally maximising fun.
This time I went as a bloke in his late twenties having taken two precious holidays off to make it to and from the island working for a multinational corporation. I also had a girlfriend.
It's quite funny how revisiting events like this makes you think how things are going, and I have to say I'm quite happy with it all. Some friends of mine had their lives mapped out from the moment they left school - they had a clear ambition to become something, be that a doctor, a vet, a designer or whatever. They all managed it by the way (one of the advantages of Facebook - it's quite easy to keep tabs on how everyone is coming along) and are doing very well. When I was younger I used to get quite jealous and stressed that these friends knew what they wanted, and the careers advisors must have loved it -


Eager young medic to be:"Sir, I'd like to be a Doctor"
Relieved careers advisor:"That's great young man - you need to work hard at this and that and then go to doctor school and then after some more hard work you'll be a doctor."
Eager young medic to be:"Thanks"


My career path followd a slightly different path, in that I really wasn't sure what I was going to get up to and to be honest I still don't. Since leaving school, I have worked in theatres, got a degree in set design, ran a cafe bar, lived in Greece, France & Austria, taught sailing & Windsurfing and finally ended up in a town I had never set foot in before (Brighton - and I love it here) working for a big airline managing their hotel offerings.


The reason I talk about this is to highlight that I used to hate the fact that I didn't know what was going to happen to me in the future - there is a real security in knowing you have found your niche in life, and I still, when I'm having a bad day, would love to know if I actually have 'a calling'.


But then I think it's actually quite nice not knowing what's around the corner, and if, in a years time I'm doing something comepletely different, then I'll probably be all the richer for it. Here's to not knowing.

:-)