A powerful statement that one should live by more often.
How many times have you missed plans because you were working late? lost contact with a friend/ family member because you both always seem too busy? routine has stopped you from doing what makes you happy? you earn good money but never get the time to enjoy it? you work so many hours yet still never seem to earn enough money to justify it?
After nine years of working in the hustle and bustle of London, at some point I’ve dealt with the above and I felt like I wasn't living my life the way I wanted to. I was committed to my career, however towards the end I was starting to lose my passion, my ambition, my ability to love and feel happiness in the things around me.
I found myself living a life that was focused around my career, rather than on what truly made me happy. Don't get me wrong, London is great, there are endless opportunities and I certainly made the most of living there, but I finally realised that I was so busy earning a living that I wasn't living my life.
It all started in Summer 2008. I had my heart set on getting a job in the big smoke and it all happened rather quickly. Within a couple of weeks I had found and accepted a job, which resulted in me having to make some pretty big sacrifices. I had already sold my horse Monty and so I finally gave up horse riding after 11 years, I packed up my stuff and my westie (dog) Molly and I left my family behind to move closer to the city. This was the start of new life for us and I was so happy, because I had her by my side. That was until 2011, when unfortunately I was working too much, so Molly had to move back to my parents.
Then I was on my own, life was crazy and I was hardly ever at home. I was always in the office, in the gym or catching up with friends when I could. Don't get me wrong, I had a good enough social life at work and I got to meet new amazing people across the city, but over the years, my social circle outside of work was getting smaller and I had lost old friends along the way. Relationships and dating also suffered as a consequence. Finally, without Monty in my life and Molly living far away, I was feeling lonely.
Over the years, having experienced some bumps and bruises along the way including some heart ache, I found myself focusing on my career more than ever - because after all, I felt like I had sacrificed everything for it and it was the one thing that gave me confidence in myself. So, in order to achieve, I put extra pressure on myself to show my dedication and ensure that I always delivered/ succeeded.
It was 2013 when things started to change. After travelling the East Coast of Aus for five weeks, I had fallen in love with Australia. I found the one place where I could see myself settling down. When I got back, I could have easily left London but I chose not to because of my career. I was convinced that I would find a company that would give me the opportunity to travel and to be honest, I was always too afraid to make my own decision to leave my career, incase I sacrificed all my hard work.
Between 2014 and 2017, my career catapulted. All my hard work was finally paying off and I was finally feeling like all the late nights and long hours was worth it but unfortunately, something was still missing - but I didn’t know what that thing was.
Then 2017 came and boy what a shit year that was. Work was going well but I was losing myself more and more outside of work. Come March my poor mum was taken ill and I was off work as a result, so I could spend time at home. I realised that apart from my friends, I didn't miss my life in London. In May we then lost Molly to a terminal illness and that’s when I started to feel that I no longer knew why or what I was working so hard for. I was saving money but London was so expensive and I didn't want to buy a house in the UK, a fancy car or material things... I didn't want to be stuck in the city any more, I just wanted to feel free and travel. I knew at that point that it was time for me to make the move.
I started to see that over the years I had focused so much of my time to my career (in the London bubble), that I had spread myself too thinly trying to juggle so many things to not let people down, that the only person I had left feeling let down and exhausted was myself.
That's ultimately what has brought me here today, 2018... finally living in Australia, on a well deserved career break enjoying myself. Now, I'm not saying that I won't pick up my career again, because I do miss it, however I know that I needed this break to help me focus on myself and find my passion again. I have already learned so much since January and know that you can do well at your job and earn a living without having to give up your life.
So as someone who hasn't always made the best decisions in life my advice is...
"I know we all need to work to earn money but you don't need to lose yourself in the process. Find your passion, fall in love, laugh daily, spend time with your friends/ family, have those weekends off, take that well needed holiday, spend time with your children, focus on being happy and take the time to mend relationships. After all, if you bury yourself too deep in work and miss out on the important things in life, there will come a time when you might lose those people, get too old or get made redundant from that job and the only person who will regret it is you".
We all have the opportunity in life to make decisions and they won't always be right but whatever you decide, just make sure that when you ask yourself 'am I living my best life?', you can say YES!
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)