A decade of challenges
The past 10 years have flown but I would not change anything
ON THE day this is published, I will quietly celebrate a significant birthday. Significant not because it’s mine but because another decade has rolled around and it feels true that time seems to move more quickly the older you get.
The weeks, months, years fly by and suddenly it’s a decade and I’m left pondering what exactly I’ve done in that time. It doesn’t seem like much time at all but, considering I’m a person who often doesn’t remember exactly what I did last week, that isn’t entirely surprising.
However, when I stop and think about it, the past 10 years has been a decade of change, unexpected events and progress.
It’s 10 years later this year that we established our business in a year when Nick was undergoing a 12-month, self-administered chemo program and continuing to work a full-time, busy schedule.
I ended up in the UK for five months. In fact, the decade has included other significant health events for Nick: an angina attack and having a stent implanted; a cataract removed and two heart attacks, the most recent of which was last year when his heart stopped for a good couple of minutes.
It was also a decade of family events.
The five months in the UK was to help care for my mum with dementia who had remained in hospital after a bad fall. After recovering as best she could we were able to help her make the transition into a care home where she passed away peacefully a couple of years later. Earlier that same year, Nick’s mother in New Zealand had a severe stroke and died.
Throughout this time we were also focusing on establishing and building the business, reviewing and updating our certifications and adding to our skills and experience to support our clients and grow our expertise. For those of you with your own business, you know how all-consuming it can be. We were also fortunate to be able to take holidays to see family and were offered some wonderful opportunities to work with interesting people in Australia and overseas.
All of this plus Nick’s health and his experience of being attacked on the Black Cat Track, in Papua New Guinea, in 2013, certainly changed the way we approached business and life in general. It required me to step up, dig deep and challenge myself in ways that I hadn’t expected.
I would not change anything. And I think if you were to do a similar review of your past 10 years you too might have insights. Rowena Hardy /is a facilitator, performance coach and partner of Minds Aligned: www.mindsaligned.com.au
The weeks, months, years fly by and suddenly it’s a decade and I’m left pondering what exactly I’ve done in that time.