Making it Happen

So often teachers come to our centre talking about cuts; lack of money and resources or unsupportive management and parents. All of which makes the visit to us harder and harder.

Last week was a little more refreshing, a head teacher had come with his school and one morning, on a whim, he enquired about the possibility of doing a follow up kayak river trip in a few weeks time. My boss found a vacancy for him and by the afternoon he was on the phone to his secretary asking her to send a letter out to parents. Just like that a decision was made that will enrich the lives of the children who get to go and possibly become a pivotal moment for them, be that through increased confidence, making new friends or even starting a new hobby.

It made me stop and think about what it really is that holds us back, sometimes it is easier to blame others than to accept responsibility yourself. It reminded me of how I got my job. I had wanted to be a windsurfing instructor since I was in school, but in my floaty way I ended up on a fine art degree, so when I graduated I naturally began work in galleries and museums. My floating eventually swept me to dry land and I realised that I was working in an IT suite as an outreach worker, with a boss who appeared to be agoraphobic. I blamed several things for not having my dream instructor job, my location, lack of qualifications, even my partner. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my degree and enjoyed lost of things about the job I had. I’m still in touch with some of the people I worked with, but I knew things were headed in a direction I didn’t want to go and so I had to get out.

One afternoon I googled outdoor pursuits companies in my local area and sent out a letter asking for advice on how to get into working in the outdoor industry. I expected the response to be at most ‘no qualifications equals no job’, really I expected nothing and looked for other avenues of escape. A few weeks later I got a response, in the form of two letters and two interviews. After all that time, all I needed to do was ask. The only thing holding me back was me.

I’m glad that this head teacher came to visit last week; I’m glad that he has reminded me that you can’t just wait for things to happen. A small action can make a big change… Imagine what a big action can do!!