Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Update

Its hard to spend so much time away from something that you love. Its been over a year since I made my move to the UK and decided to radically change my life. In doing so I made tremendous sacrifices and have learnt a great deal about myself in the process. For starters, I left a prestigious job with great respect and perks with the hope of making a smooth transition into a similar role here. Things haven't gone to plan (thanks to the recession and instability of most markets) but nonetheless I am far better off than most. I earn a good salary with a secure Government department and still have good benefits.

I have learnt that amidst confusion, I am my own strength. When I moved here, I had a job offer that vanished within hours of my arrival. I could have hopped on the next flight and returned to the security of my former job but instead I decided to hit the pavement and search out a job.

I have learnt that a humble approach is often the best one. In my job search, I started by applying for jobs within the area of my qualification area. I felt so sure that my Bachelors degree and Masters degree from a prestigious university would do the trick for me, I could never have been so wrong. It seems that in a struggling market, companies become blind to your 'paper' qualifications and would quicker hire the man that just walked out of the firm next door and can hit the ground running. My search turned towards entry level roles that would provide me with an income and this is where I struck gold.

I have learnt that life is what you make of it. When I moved to London, in my mind I saw a wonderful city where I would quickly form my little 'power circle' and start hitting up the galleries, malls, museums, theatres and life would be grand. What I found however is that I would have to make friends by trial and error, wouldn't have time of the social stuff and would spend most of my free time just laying in front of the television under my blanket. This was life for a while until it hit me that I had to 'make being here make sense'. I started doing things on my own and in the process picked up a friend of two. I may not be the socialite I thought I would be, but I am now enjoying where I am.

Life is still not where I want it, and I will continue to work at getting to that point, but until then I will not allow myself to settle for less than happiness. I'm be back to writing steadily, I just need a little more me time...

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