Ch 2. The Crossing Of Paths

From 2004 to 2014 I changed jobs a number of times and ended up working for a small, friendly company near Cambridge. During my time there a couple of company “Charity Challenges” came up. The first was an amazing team building exercise and physically and mentally challenging. The end of trip champagne with 14 sleep deprived participants was hilarious.

The following year I took on the role of support driver and took my duties seriously. Where possible I stopped to cheer them on, I ensured they had everything they required at the end of the day, from blister plasters to beers. The hardest part for me was when there were those who could not carry on. My role become one I would never have expected of me. It was a caring role, picking up the fallen, wiping away the tears, brushing them down, telling them to look at what they had achieved, not look at things as a failure. I took my time, listening and chatting until a smile appeared. This was so emotionally draining, but oh so very rewarding.

Some consequences of this were that I became a little more social at work, and also wanted to get fit again so I could participate in the next challenge that came along. The sudden change in me caused a lot of friction at home and I sought people to talk to at work.

One lunchtime a young lady asked me if I needed a walk at lunchtime. She didn’t profess to know the answers to my problems, but listened carefully as I talked them through. This is all I needed to resolve my situation, someone to listen whilst my brain worked out the solutions.

Over time, and many lunchtime walks, this woman became a very good friend, and when I left the company a few years later for the first time in my life I kept touch with a colleague.

As it turns out the new position I took was not for me. Within 3 months it became so obvious to me that I was in the wrong place and I had a feeling that this was so not meant to be. I took a few months break and contacted my old boss, and it turned out that they had just created a role that I had been asking for before I left. It was in an area that I loved and was passionate about, it included a meeting that no-one else in the department wanted to attend and had the potential to do so much good for the product we produced.

So I took this role and rejoined my friend on our lunchtime walks.