CREATIVE ROOTS COLUMN

The Art of Reinvention

What do you want your ending to be?

Kusudama flowers folded from the pages of a crime novel — Diarist’s own photograph

Non-members can read here.

Thoughts on reinvention: Friday 21st March

I have had an incredible week of endings and beginnings… The endings have been inevitable and are clearing a path for new opportunities to appear. Years of being tied to one thing that limited my progress in other areas feels like it is finally reaching its natural end.

When you devote decades of your life to teaching, it becomes the way people define you, and the weight and expectation of that can end up being a burden that others impress on you to continue bearing.

Breaking away can be challenging for many reasons — I’ve watched many of my teacher friends try, and fail. In the end, it can all boil down to whether or not the sacrifices are worth it.

Waving goodbye to a salaried job, a secure position, decent holidays, and full pay for short-term sickness, is a hell of a gamble — but it was worth it.

Changing states — Diarist’s own photograph