ONCE UPON A DREAM; Landing On My Feet

www,annestokes.com

I'm so happy that it's November - my birthday month!  At this time of year I always take stock of my life and see how the last twelve months have treated me and what I still need to achieve.  I'm quite pleased with how this past year has gone. I have achieved all the goals I set for myself  and its hard to believe that this time last year I was still working on placement and trying to accumulate my clinical practice hours.

A year on and I have not only finished all the clinical hours and the final placement report, but I have finally qualified as a counsellor too.  That was the biggest goal I set last year - I just wanted to get it all done and qualify, so that I could move on with my life.  I have been able to do just that, taking on a few hours a week, in practice at a very busy surgery.  Sometimes life has a way of giving you exactly what you need, but in a totally unexpected way.  I am content in the work that I am doing and it is great to be a part of a new team of lovely professional people. 

In addition, I have achieved the goal I set of finding a new regular publisher for my psychotherapy writing, thus completing my move into mainstream topics and leaving the Wiccan work behind me.  I haven't written about Wicca in over two years and it is nice to be stepping out and writing something different, while still being published and a monthly columnist.  That was the second major goal I set for myself last year and another one that I have been able to tick off my list during the last twelve months.

Then of course there were the unexpected, but happy, events that brightened my year - an auld acquaintance taking the time to congratulate me on qualifying; the Ant Middleton seminar which was amazing, and the open day at university was great too. Both of which acted as a huge pep-talk to keep me moving forward and pressing ahead with my goal to apply to uni and the next level of study.  I am about halfway through creating my application portfolio and I hope to complete the application process before Christmas.

So all in all, despite the hiccups of the last couple of years or so, and someone's very spiteful (but failed) attempt to sabotage my work and professional reputation,  I feel like I have landed on my feet once more.  I have moved on in my life and made a fresh start, striking out on my own and moving steadily towards the goals I set for myself, with no-one else in mind.  You have to know when to leave the past behind you and let it go. Only then will you be free to proceed onto the next stage of your life. 

Yes, there have been disappointments.  People have made false promises and then ultimately let me down. It is always upsetting when someone thinks that they can play with your time and keep you hanging on indefinitely, for nothing.  But I just threw myself into my work and as a result,  a whole new professional path is now laid out before me and with it, a whole new team and circle of acquaintances that I am enjoying getting to know better. 

At the end of the day, your team are the people who are around you day to day, in the here and now, not those fly by nights who promise you the world but are too busy and wrapped up in themselves to actually deliver!  Your team are the ones you can call and text when you've had a bad day; the ones who are in your life to wish you a happy birthday; the ones you can attend Christmas parties with;  and the one who will always find some way to reach out and congratulate you on your victory, no matter where they are or what they are doing.  That's your team.  Anything else is just a dream and a time-waster. 

Landing on your feet is largely a matter of attitude.  No matter how bad things get, I have always held a deep seated belief that everything will work out well for me and that I will always be okay.  I know that my enemies will never defeat me, though I do sometimes find their attempts to do so quite a source of entertainment!  

I feel blessed and lucky. I believe that I am guided and protected by a higher force and while I don't always understand where it is leading me, I try to trust enough to say 'Yes!' to the opportunities that are presented to me out of the blue - even if they don't look quite how I imagined they would.  They have been sent to me for a reason and I am happy to follow my arrow wherever it points.  You never know where such opportunities will lead, or who you will meet because of them.  So whether its a new colleague or a blast from the past, I try to keep an open mind and accept that they have come into my life for a reason. 

My life looks very different to how it looked a few years ago but I am content and happy in how it is unfolding.  I trust that all good things are coming to me and that I will draw to me the kind of people who are right for me at this stage in my life and career.  My work is good for me; it gets me out and about and I am even looking forward to this year's Christmas party season!  

So although things didn't work out quite as I had planned; although the people in my life are not the ones I thought would be there for me; and although the work I am doing isn't in the environment I imagined it would be; overall, I have come to a good place in my life and landed safely on my feet like a lucky black cat, in the spirit of victory, with my goals met and several more achievements under my belt. 

So all in all, it's not been a bad year!  I am looking forward to my birthday later this month and to all the lovely events that I know the next twelve months will bring my way.  This is what it means to feel blessed and guided...and yes, lucky.