Un-bloody-expected...

A very weird thing has happened. I am feeling content at work. And not just in a 'today is going well' kind of way, but in a 'genuinely, when I look at this as a possible long-term career, I feel kind of happy about it' kind of way. And that has really taken me by surprise. I'm sitting here in my little office, I'm very proud of myself for the way I have taken this role on and made of it what I have over the past couple of years, and I am surprisingly excited by the thought of just being able to keep on doing it, for as long as I'm lucky enough to have it. This is a new sensation for me. I've always been a guy who is looking for the greener grass or finding the negatives in things or just generally feeling unhappy and demoralised, and here I am feeling pretty privileged to be where I am, and genuinely feeling that if being a manager here took me all the way through to retirement, that would be ok.
Weird, but welcome.
And I know this is coming less than a fortnight after I told you that Philippa and I are considering ripping up our home life and moving the family abroad, and I know it's coming in January, which is a typical month for reflection and depression and wild-eyed schemes, and I know I've just had a birthday, and that does weird things to a man's psyche when you get to my age, but still... I've been thinking about it, and meditating on it, and giving it some serious consideration, and I have to say that I am very much content. I'll continue to look for ways to improve things, and we'll continue looking at our little plan to travel away as a family, but I can honestly say that if nothing comes of that, and the next few years sees us staying in our little Suffolk home, and continuing as we are, that would be perfectly acceptable too. And I feel very blessed to be able to say that.

RC 23-1-26