2014 – Our Year?

Happy New Year, People!

So, the partying is over, the hangovers are cured, there are half-eaten boxes of chocolates on the sideboard threatening the new year diet resolution on an hourly basis. Everyone I know has or has had some kind of grotty, snotty virus and the world as we know it (South West England and Wales anyway) has turned to water. It\’s like Apocalypse Now out there and I am genuinely thankful not to have that 70 mile commute to and from Bristol to contend with anymore.

I\’m waking up when it gets light (I tell myself that I\’m not lazy, I\’m in tune with Nature!). I\’m getting wet and muddy with Reuben each morning and I\’m trying to settle in to work by about lunchtime. I have tidied my office, made some calls and written some emails so I\’m on it!

Except, who am I trying to kid? I need to do more, be more pro-active, take advantage of this new year like never before because, actually, I have no excuse! I gave up the 9-5 (8-8!) grind of my previous career last July and I can\’t help feeling I should be further ahead by now. There\’s a nagging in the back of my mind that says, \”What have you done? What are you doing? And what are you going to do?\” Marianne Cantwell (Free Range Humans) calls this nagging voice \”Top Dog\”. This is not a sweet, soppy dog like my Reuben with his endless and unconditional love. This dog is haughty and superior and very impatient. It tells me over and over again that I\’m being reckless, ridiculous and downright crazy when I think that I can live my life my way and encourage and help you to do the same. It asks who do I think I am to give up a perfectly good job with a very decent salary at my age? It says I don\’t live in the real world! It reminds me to read the papers and see how hard it is out there.

Grrrr!!! (That\’s me growling, not Top Dog!) We all have a Top Dog, a Doubting Thomas figure, lurking in the background ready to put us down at any opportunity and trying to drag us away from our purpose and our dreams.

Well, in 2014, Top Dog can just do one (or else I might just get him put down – without the aid of a vet!)

This year, I haven\’t made endless resolutions that I won\’t keep. I\’ve just decided to be kind to myself and to you. I\’m holding onto my dream of working for myself, on your behalf.

I will help you identify your dream job. I will support you and be your cheer-leader. I will super-charge your CV and coach you to perform brilliantly at interview. I won\’t judge you or tell you what to do. I\’ll help you find your own answers, your own way, your own truth. I will work with you and collaborate on exciting projects. I will give one hundred per cent effort to everything I take on. I will give my time, free of charge, in my local schools and colleges. I will mentor young people via \”The Career Academies\”, \”JobGen\” and \”Inspiring The Future\”. I will help people facing redundancy to realise that it\’s a fabulous opportunity, not the end of the world. I will encourage you to remember that this is your one life and you are free to live it however you want.  I will remember that fact myself and enjoy the time that I now have with my husband, my friends and my family. I will be brave and write more, from my heart. Even braver, I will get right out of my comfort zone and do a video post on here! I will ask for help and I will reciprocate wherever I can.

What will you do? I know that whatever you choose, you\’ll be fabulous.

2014 Will Be Our Year.

Please, leave your comments below or email jenner_louise1@me.com