New beginnings

Last weekend I was privileged enough to meet more than 20 other younger cancer patients in their 20s   30s or 40s as part of a fabulous weekend of activities.  Each of the participants has experienced a cancer diagnosis at some point as a young adult and as such were all on the same wavelength. 

One of the sessions I attended focused upon work, after 15 months off sick I am getting to a place physically and mentally where I want and can think about returning to work. I had been in a quandary for a while about what I want to do, unsure if I want to return to what I trained to do or if I want to break  off and do something different.  Cancer changes your priorities and so much about teaching just doesn't seem important to me. One of the activities in the work session was helping people in our small groups see through their question. Well, my peers suggested a pros/cons list, careers questionnaires and then trying out those suggestions. 

In the last week I have completed my pros/cons list for staying in teaching where each point was rated 1-10.  My pros for staying in teaching scored  a mere 60oints  the cons, 140 points. I will repeat in a month, but it seems pretty conclusive, teaching is no longer important to me.  I have looked online at jobs, amd I have found jobs that excite me in the ways I got excited about applying for teaching posts. 

So today we start a new beginning, I'm not Thirteen the Teacher, but I'm Thirteen, a daughter, a partner, a friend, a leader, a swimmer, a singer, a listener, a survivor.

Don't be labelled by your job, you are not your job, you are so much more than it. I feel often we are led to think success is determined by your job, by the label, doctor, nurse, teacher, solicitor. But are we really "successful" if we have achieved those positions? 

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" Winston Churchill 

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome"  Booker T Washington 

Every day  leads to a new tomorrow, another opportunity to start something new, but don't wait until tomorrow to start living. 

 

    The celebratory I've completed my first 1km walk since surgery!