Three months to go until the big 5-0 .. lessons learnt in 2024

My goodness, this life has gone quick. 

The 17 years that I was up north absolutely flew by. 

I don't usually give too much meaning to age numbers, even though I like birthdays. This particular birthday, I'm not sure if I'll truly feel like celebrating. 

Life absolutely broke me this year. 2024 has been a brutal year; so many people have gone through huge challenges. I'm no expert on astrological and energetic matters but there must have been something in the air the last few months.  

At the end of the tunnel there has been good and unexpected things happen for me; also there is the possibility of a new job which could see me move to a place I really love; nothing set in stone yet but I'm feeling optimistic. Sometimes there is a gut feeling about something - I had another job interview but I kind of knew I wouldn't get it. 

The biggest lessons I have taken are: 

Letting life lead or letting my higher self lead - some of you may have read a book called The Surrender Experiment where the 'hippy' author continually surrenders to life's perfection and ends up running a big IT organisation amongst other things. 

That I need to take small steps - for a long time, I have felt like I am far behind in life - being a late developer is hard and not something I would recommend - especially without suitable support when trying to function in a world that is so not catered for such people. But I continued to get nowhere when trying to get from A to Z.

Not everything is for me - It's easy for me to get entangled in a viewpoint or concept that my friends are into and think it should work for me. But some things just don't. Human Design goes way over my head. Books like The Celestine Prophecy and A Course In Miracles don't float my boat at all. Concepts around masculinity - such as Warrior, Magician, Lover, King - I think are good but they do not completely align with my character. 

That I needed to come to terms with my neurodiversity - Autism has always been a bit of a dirty word for me; still is to some degree, as someone who grew up in a time when it was seen in a negative light and when the needs of people like myself were not understood or catered for. In fact, it's more my ADHD tendencies that impact me day to day. But either way, my brain function is different to the majority of people (although the rate things are going, it will eventually be more common to be neurodiverse - not a good thing in my opinion). I agree with my friend who says a lot of it is brain damage - and yes I do believe my brain has been damaged somewhat. 

That I don't have to like everyone. Nuff said. 

That it's ok to have regrets or wish certain things had never happened - One thing I can't do is change the past. It happened. All I can do is rebuild. Whilst it's obviously possible to build good things from tragic situations - Andy's Man Club being one example (the founder lost his brother in law, called Andy, to suicide) - let's just say that a lot of us would change some of our past if we could. Life sometimes does give you more than you can handle, and that's a fact. 

Perhaps most importantly of all, I have learnt that I have to be true to myself. There have been times when I thought I was being really authentic and living a life that was suitable for me. Now I'm not so sure. Some New Age hippy practices, I'm not sure are for me now. It's so easy to get attached to a set of beliefs in order to fit in. Now, I want to build my tribe of people whose outlook really aligns with the outlook I have now. 

Image courtesy of gettythings.com

The world of work from my perspective

I find the work world strangely fascinating - even if much of it is not suited to my personality. I'm the kind of person who gets stressed in jobs that the majority of people would not. I can also easily see the lack of authenticity in many work positions and sometimes wonder how people can go on for so long playing a role that isn't really them - although if one has children then I guess it's a bit easier. 

I also see the romanticism of the 'follow your bliss, do what you love' viewpoint. I will expand on that in a bit, but for now, all I'll say is that if this was easier, a lot more people would be doing it. 

THE 9 TO 5 WORLD IS GENERALLY NOT CONDUCIVE TO NEURODIVERSITY
I honestly had no idea until more recently as to how much my temperament has affected my progress in the workplace. Like the majority of people, I was conditioned to become a wage slave - and once you become part of that system, the harder it is to escape - which is undoubtedly deliberate. If the world was operating as it should, there would probably be little to no need for many of the roles in place today - such as fraud investigators, prison officers, maybe even counsellors. And there would certainly be less jobs that require being in front of a screen all day. 

MOST PEOPLE DO NOT LOVE THEIR WORK
.. Which is a big societal issue, probably bigger than most people think. A big part of the ridiculous booze culture in the UK is due to work, many visits to the doctor are due to work, many people are suffering due to the demands of their jobs. And this seems to have got worse since the big recession in 2008 - employers can get away more with treating employees like shit because 'they should be grateful to be in a job'. No, good treatment is a basic human right. 

NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME SKILLS OR CAPABILITIES
This is a big one which I wish more working class people would get into their heads. Many people resent their jobs and are (lets be honest) slightly envious of people on benefits, with a particular focus on the minority of people that are on benefits who get enough money equivalent to a full time job. Most of these people are unlikely to do much to make any big changes - because it's not easy to do so. But for some of us, even the more basic tasks such as looking for work can be difficult. 

WILL THINGS CHANGE?
The short answer is yes. The old work model is outdated and it is staggering that in the age of so much technology, that the majority of people are still in 9 to 5 jobs. There's no way I can see this continuing that way for too much longer. Covid - despite causing A LOT of damage to businesses - which was deliberate by the way; the governments would rather everyone is a wage slave to another person or having to claim benefits - did see some positive changes such as the increase in working from home, which I see as a positive. There are more and more online opportunities - and hopefully as we strive to create a better world, there will be more opportunities and support for people to follow their passions. 

FINALLY .. FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS .. WHAT'S THAT ALL ABOUT?

Image courtesy of Flickr

Some of the self help books make it sound easy - 'follow your bliss and the rest will fall into place' kinda thing. This is misleading and potentially dangerous. It was absolutely devastating to be brought back to square one this year after I thought I was finally getting somewhere in changing my career. 
The truth is, following your bliss is not easy, in fact it's not easy even knowing what your 'bliss' is. The human mind is wired towards security and comfort and so most people will stay in the confines of a job. 
If, like me, your mind is constantly scattered and all over the place, you need to put in place a solid plan if you have sincere desires to change your life. And I'm still not at that point yet. 

The journey continues .... 
Peace