Time to Live a Bit?

This last week has gone in a flash. Scary fast. Not only that, but I don’t feel as if I achieved very much either. But as I lay in bed this morning waiting for my body to feel like it should get up, I wondered if I care much anymore.

I’ve spent my entire life pushing. Focused. Goal-oriented. My Mother used to say I wanted to run before I could walk and there was an element of that. It served me well though because I can say my life in terms of career and breadth has been a tremendous success when I think on it. In fact, the only thing I regret perhaps is not taking the time to savour along the way.

I was born into a working class family in Hull. My father was a toolmaker and later, service engineer and my Mother eventually became a buyer for a large local food firm. Around the age of 11, we moved homes into a more pleasant middle-class location. That was two-sided as it brought a bit of ridicule by other kids at school who were all quite posh compared to me.

I suppose expectations were that I would stay in the Hull area and become some sort of office worker. But around the age of 11, a teacher took some interest in me and encouraged me to work harder. That got me in an A stream in the middle school (back when schools were streamed). I can still recall standing in assembly at the new school as names were read out as the had been allocated to the various streams. The collective gasp of astonishment by my peers when my name was called to be in the A class was loud.

I never looked back though. I remained in the A stream, gained 8 O levels and went into 6th form. There I would cycle to school or a bit later drive on my Honda C90 (twenty years old). I was often passed by some of my school mates in convertible Jaguars and the like.

My A levels were a bit of a disaster really. I got distracted by music and was in a school band. I also chose the wrong Math A level. Anyhow, I got two one with distinction and by writing to Universities begging to be let in, got to Aston in Birmingham. A first-class honours B.Sc. in geological Sciences was followed by a PhD and then a ob as a rig geologist with BP in Aberdeen.

Soon growing bored with actually working as a geologist, I managed a move into IT at BP and from there joined Price Waterhouse as a consultant. It was them that sent me to Houston, TX and there, my career took off.

So, perhaps now is my time to slow down a bit. Take it easier. Maybe the speed at which time moved is a warning - pay attention - use what you have left wisely?

I have all sorts of ideas. Going to China, off in the van, revisit old haunts in Texas and so on. Yet I still find myself making excuses not to do this and to stay in front of this computer…..

No, its time to live a bit…. I need to stop making excuses and do it. I need to find that get up and go again that got me here and target it in a different direction.

So much to do.

Have a great weekend.