If just six months ago you would have told me I'd be running an architectural salvage business in beautiful Shropshire I'd have thought you were completely insane. In fact if I'd have had such a notion I'd have I thought I was Insane. But here I am and it really does feel like I'm "living the dream". A friend who runs his own up-cycling business posted on Facebook that he was living the dream and it was that post that made me realise that I have the happiest working life I could possibly imagine. Not that I still don't have moments of incredible self doubt and the odd "have I done the right thing?", briefly heart stopping, interlude. It's scary when you don't have customers and you wonder how you are going to pay the bills. This business is very feast or famine. I'm sure there were friends who thought that selling my house, leaving my job, moving over 100 miles and starting right back at the beginning was not the wisest thing I'd ever done, yet they unanimously wished me well whilst, probably, shaking their heads and blaming a menopause induced mid-life crisis. I have good friends who have loved and supported me through thick and thin and every high and low imaginable; they are probably the most significant reason for my finding the courage to make a new life. As time passes, and its been a whole 10 weeks "in the job", so to speak, I have a growing faith in the decision I made. This faith is constantly reinforced by the people I meet who are doing their upmost to build a dream home or create a new life. There's a lot of us out there you know. From young couples restoring a tiny cottage to middle aged ex-professionals living off grid and looking for a simpler life; they wander around the yard full of hope and enthusiasm for a future that is simply different and, if things go to plan, better. Don't think I'm not grateful for for my old life and all the wonderful people who filled it. I've been very fortunate in so many ways and all the experiences, good and bad, have brought me to this point in my life...certainly older and if not wiser, at least better informed. So I enjoy every day as it comes, I do the things I can do and have begun to accept and not worry about the things I can't do or change. Every brick or quarry tile stacked today is one less to stack tomorrow and one painstakingly removed millimetre of old paint removed is a millimetre closer to uncovering a beautiful detail on an unloved fireplace. To sum it up, mine is a life that today I feel has been reclaimed, restored and reloved. ..........and I am # Living my Dream.
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