Learning the hard way
Whether it’s starting your own business, redesigning your garden or wanting to grow vegetables, why not give-in to the idea (or whim) and learn? Just like the book I’ve written to help jobseekers stand out in the crown for all the right reasons How to Be the Best Candidate Every Single Time (available from Amazon and all good bookshops to order). I didn’t plan to fall yesterday and certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but apart from a few bruises it worked out okay. Just like my book sales, if you don’t try you don’t know!
Stone cold sober, I fell off my stool (and it wasn’t even a bar stool) onto the ceramic kitchen floor – ouch! I checked that I hadn’t broken anything and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A friend rushed to help me, but I resisted the offer. My personal trainer used to say that as we age we need to keep our arms strong for hauling ourselves out of the bath (if we slip) or getting up after a fall.
I was about to find out whether I’d achieved my target and whether she was right. Once I’d composed myself I shuffled across the floor on my backside and onto the bottom stair. Thank heavens we moved to a house with a staircase straight up from the open plan living space. And now for the arms. I anchored myself on the first stair (one flat palm either side of me) and used the strength in my arms to move backwards and onto the second stair. Then I was up and ready to dance around the kitchen again. Yeah, right!
What did I learn from the experience apart from that our kitchen floor was very hard? No, I’m not proud of my dirty floor but it’s inevitable when the front garden is being reimagined. The housebuilders didn’t surprise us. We inherited their hideous choice of ‘supermarket’ planting, a thick and disproportional layer of bark over builders’ rubble. More about the front garden later as I know how much some of you love my horticultural stories!
Back to what I learned from falling off my perch, apart from dirty floors and never deliberately overstretching to reach the eggs. I can get up without help and my arm muscles are up to the challenge. I’m not suggesting that you try to recreate my experience although I’m certain there’s something new that you wonder whether you can achieve. And of course, you know what I’m going to say, don’t you? It’s time to give it a go and see where it takes you. Just like writing a book and I’m working on my third.
