The decision was made, I would have my last day at work on 18 July. I had mixed feelings, but fortunately a friend at work, Rachel, is a trained psychologist, helped me start to work through my feelings and plan my next steps. Her first suggestion was to complete an online questionnaire to assess my strengths. It was fascinating - apparently my top five strengths are:- 'Bravery and Valour' (I'm courageous, don't hold back and act on my convictions); 'Capacity to love and be loved' ; 'Perspective wisdom' (it seems that whilst I don't think I'm wise, my friends do); 'Kindness and Generosity' (I enjoy doing good deeds for others) and 'Honesty, authenticity and genuineness' (I am 'real' and live my life in a genuine and authentic way).
The idea is that you should always ensure that whatever you do in life is based around at least three of those strengths, or you will never be happy.
From that point, Rachel encouraged me to think about what I wanted my life to deliver. A tough question and one that needed some thought. I came up with the following:-
1. I want my environment to be peaceful and calm and I want to feel supported and valued by those around me.
2. I will take good care of myself both physically and mentally
3. I will ask others for what I need and allow others to share the burden and I will value my strengths and not berate myself for my weaknesses.
4. I will adopt a way of life that affords me balance.
This is all very true, but interestingly enough, at that stage, both Rachel and I were imagining me creating another career for myself based on my strengths. We spent time talking about counselling courses and the possibility of setting up my own education consultancy business supporting troubled teens and their families across the Borough.
Tomorrow I will continue with the next steps in Project Me....
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