Patterns

The last few weeks has seen me doing more than my fair share of navel gazing. Usually, I’m too busy to even check for belly-button fluff, so it’s something of an illuminating experience. I’m rather getting into this reflective stuff.

One thing that I have noticed is this ‘jump and don’t look back’ philosophy is actually something I’m quite well-practisced at. It’s something of a recurring habit of mine.

• At 16, I left home and left school, with no idea what I wanted to do with my life, except live it.
• At 20, I left the UK to see the world and travel. I was gone 2 1/2 years.
• At 24, I decided that marketing was my career choice and to go back and study, and got the best grades in my year.
• At 28, I quit an amazing corporate PR job to go freelance and make it in music PR. I went on to represent some of the UK and USA’s biggest urban artists. (It was the constant late nights that finished me off).
• At 30, I decided to do my MA in creative writing, because I just needed to do it. I graduated with a first class degree.
• At 34, I married a man 10 years younger, who I’d met by chance and only known for a year. Five years on – so far, so good (so, so good).
• At 36, we upped and left London for a life by the sea.
• And now, just before I turn 38, I quit my job, with the only plan being that there is no plan. (Yet).

Looking at what has gone before, I know something will rock up and capture my imagination, even if I don’t know what it is yet. When I look at my previous decisions to jump, I have no reason to regret any of those similarly dramatic choices I made before. There have been bumps in the road, and of course, inevitable disasters along the way, but essentially, they have all made me who I am. And when I have the time and space to remember who I am, actually, I don’t mind a bit.

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