Escaping the 9-5 trap and regaining control of MY LIFE…

In 8 days it will be a year since I started my blog. In 12 days it will be a year since I finished my very last exam for my undergrad degree. So what have I done since then?

I graduated obviously, and managed to score myself a hot shot city job with a healthy salary. I moved out of my family home and into a nice little flat in Canary Warf and holiday in the Maldives twice a year. I am living the dream of every new graduate and success is my friend.

Ha, I kid. I have graduated, and since I have had exactly 6 jobs - ranging from making spreadsheets about people who were mis-sold PPI, Grotto Host at the number one department store in the world, and PA for Social Services.  I still live with my parents – I would never live in Canary Warf, I hate the grid system! And the closest I have had to a holiday is a weekend trip Edinburgh or that time I met my Uni friends in Birmingham.

Am I successful? I would say I am on the path to success – I am saving to travel. In my eyes personal success will come when I achieve my life ambition – to travel to Fiji and stand with a foot on either side of the International Date Line. I believe success is not measured by your career, your lavish house or the amount of money in your bank – but by your happiness.

I would say the biggest fault in my life since graduating is having fallen into, what I like to call, the ‘9-5 trap.’ I work 9-5 Monday to Friday and in my spare time, I commute, eat and sleep and sometimes I go and see McBusted perform at the O2 – BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE. This is the sole reason I have not blogging in so long. Nothing interesting happens when you work in insurance, nothing inspires you – all you learn about life is that insurance is probably the most boring career path to choose. But hey, that is just my opinion. If it is your life calling by all means go for it.

However, inspiration has found me again, in the form of a Summer Camp in an East Coast State of the USA. That is right, in four short weeks I will be crossing the pond and will spend three and a half months State-Side working at a Summer Camp (just like in Parent Trap!) and travelling around the States. Finally a chance to live, learn and have fun!

For all the Geographers out there – I am hoping to visit the Four Corners, the only point in America where four states meet, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico! I can be in four different states at once, think of all the border fun that can be had! Professor Matt Hannah if you are reading this, I hope you are proud.

So this blog is making a comeback (NB: I have redesigned it to reflect my life at this moment in time) and over the next couple of months will be used to share my American adventures, what I have learnt about life and of course anything funny that happens.

I am going to finish this post by sharing a quote I recently came across and have fallen in love with as it so accurately defines my feelings towards life…

‘Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.’ – John Lennon. 

R x