Redundancy: A blessing in disguise?

I was recently informed that I am to be made redundant. “Disaster!” You may think. “What on earth are you going to DO?!” This was the slightly unnerving reaction I faced from many friends and family on hearing the news. Not the most confidence inspiring response when your self esteem has already taken a bit of a blow. And so the challenge began. Could I turn this negative into a positive? Was this the kick up the proverbial I have needed for years? Could I rise above my own feeling of failure and carve for myself a new and exciting niche in the career market? I decided that it was and that I could.

For several years now I have been toying with the idea of a career change. Somehow, the path I had chosen on leaving university (or rather fell-in-to) had never really seemed to ‘fit’ very well. Sure, there were good points to my job in television; travelling to shoots in exotic locations, meeting fabulous and interesting people, being in a creative industry. But the work itself I found stressful, tough and unrewarding. I felt I had abandoned all the things I was good at in favour of developing skills that did not come naturally and that made me constantly feel insecure. So perhaps this was a sign? Perhaps finally I would be forced to escape from this world and to dare to boldly go out in the unknown. To go out and to discover what I really wanted to do. What would really make me happy…