Some of you may already know, but life was pretty tough for me growing up, my childhood was not very nice and when I was 16 years old, through no fault of my own, I found myself homeless.
I just couldn’t believe it, it knocked me, but I had to carry on, I will go more into this in another blog, but in short, I ended up being placed in a residential B&B, with lots of people suffering with addiction.
Luckily for me I never got involved with the drugs and crime going on around me, I’m lucky I’ve always had this inner strength to drive me, so I continued with my A-Levels, which I had just started and passed 3 out of 4, which was no mean feat under the circumstances.
I intended to go to university and study Environmental Science, a subject I loved and I am still passionate about today.
However, it wasn’t to be, I needed to apply for grant funding due to my circumstances, but I needed to evidence that I would not be financially supported, which due to my family circumstances was impossible to get. This hit me hard, having someone else stopping me from following the path I wanted to take. But I didn’t dwell on it; I changed my plans and went into the world of work.
I am not sharing this for sympathy, but to reach out to people who may have been through something similar, where someone or something, stopped them achieving something they dreamed of, from following their passion, or simply meant that their choice was taken away. I suspect we all have something? What came up when you read this? What is your thing you didn’t get to do or had to stop too soon?
So I accepted this was my path and I spent many years working in various industries, gaining professional qualifications and valuable experience. Before finding my passion, which I guess I knew all along, that I love working with people and seeing them blossom, so I started by becoming an outreach worker and I loved it.
Many years later, after taking a year out to travel the world, I continued working with people and loved it, but I still had this niggle in the back of my head, that I had been stopped, by someone else, from continuing my education as I had planned. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that feeling of disappointment or regret, especially when the decision was taken away from me, you may have experienced something similar…
So I made the decision to embark on a degree with the Open University, it felt like a huge decision; after all, I was in my early 30’s and I couldn’t remember the last time I wrote an essay, but I made my decision, and as scary as it was, I knew it was right.
As many OU students do, I set off on my academic journey, whilst continuing to work. While I was doing this, I also decided to start my business, I now have two businesses and I was lucky enough to gain a place on the school for social entrepreneurs program, of which I am now a fellow, life was pretty busy, but I loved everything I was doing and I knew it was only short term.
I’ll be honest there were many challenges along the way, including two quite significant bereavements along with leaving my full time job to focus on my businesses. I didn’t make it easy for myself, but I was building a future I knew I would love, my #LIFEworkbalance was awful, which is the reason I know so much about it and the benefits of it now, again, another blog for another day. 
Fast forward six years and here I am, well seven really because I waited a year to ensure Ihad my venue of choice for my big day. One week ago, I celebrated my graduation at the beautiful Ely Cathedral! I had now done the thing someone else had decided I couldn’t, I had my degree, I did it all by myself and I feel so proud.
If I can do this, you can too, take a moment to think of that one thing you wish you had done, but didn’t or couldn’t… could you do it now or at least take a step towards it? What could that mean for you and your life? How would it make you feel to say no to regret or disappointment, and hello to success and achievement?
As always, I would love to hear from you, does this resonate with you? Would this touch someone you know? Please share it with people who you think would benefit. I believe in you and that you can do it, or take that first step towards it, you deserve to give yourself that chance.
Also, remember you are very welcome to get in touch for an informal, no obligation chat, or maybe even book yourself an introductory session, 30 minutes of your time could just change your life!
Until next time!
Emma
