It’s almost two years ago that a friend encouraged me to start writing. She had just published her first book and was working on her second. Although I felt that I’d love to write a book, I didn’t think I was any different from anyone else. Everyone wants to be a writer don’t they?
But my friend J made me realise that it wasn’t just any old book I wanted to write. I had a specific idea, and I felt strongly about it. I wanted to collect the stories of women living lives that they feel are meaningful. What did they do? How did they manage it? What sort of things give meaning to a life? When we reach its end, what will it take for us to feel that ours was a life well-lived?
I’ve almost completed my book, and interviewing women from all ages and walks of life has been a wonderful experience. I’ve collected so many stories and so much wisdom, I can’t wait to share it.
I’ve come to realise that for me at least, a life of meaning is my starting point for a career. It’s more important to me than the lists of skills and education on my CV (although the experiences that came about from those things are clues to follow). When I was a student, I remember looking through those lists of employers and feeling cold. And when I worked in careers advice, I wondered how many of my students felt that same feeling of numb dispondence as we thrust copies of the Times 100 Best Graduate Employers into their hands.
But finding out who we are and what will bring us meaning is a life’s work in itself – certainly not something that could be accomplished in a single session with a careers adviser, however skilled. The women I interviewed for my book came to their realisations over time. One of them, a gardener, spoke of putting things in the ground and taking things out, observing cycles of growth and of dying away. This is how she shapes her gardens and how she shapes her life.
The realisations that I’ve arrived at haven’t come from a careers adviser. No-one encouraged me to be a writer (I was good at science, and apparently that’s more important), and they certainly didn’t encourage me to teach yoga (“..but you’ve got a PhD in chemistry – what a waste!”). But my experiences working in training and development, my observations of people who have chosen high stress, eggs-in-one-basket employment, my immersion into the world of yoga and its alternative people, my curiousity and my love of writing have landed me here. And I love it.
Read a sample chapter of my book Once Upon a Lifetime:
– Amelie: Authenticity
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