Categories: uncategorized
Date: 06 August 2005 15:48:44
In another one of these tag thingies, Deeleea has put on her interviewing hat and is asking random (willing) volunteers some (personalised) questions. I have to say, her questions to me are a bit scary, and I think my answers make me sound ever so earnest, but anyway here they are - yet more to know about me! (because yes, it's all about me :D ). Dee, I promise I have packed loads before sitting down to answer these. Anyone else want to be interviewed, leave either deeleea or me a comment to that effect (I suspect my questions would be more Oprah, whereas hers are more Parky, but there we are).
1. What is your happiest memory?
Towards the end of last year. The last time I saw my ex before we split up. *Big sigh*
2. Your posts about your affair with the Eastern Block and with developing countries has been of great interest to all of us, and you have taken great steps towards going beyond exploring that interest to actually doing something with it. What do you suggest as a means to 'making a difference' to the ordinary person whose interest hasn't extended quite so far as making it a life work as you have done?
Don't beat yourself up if you're not doing loads or giving up things or whatnot. Little things, added up, can make a difference. Find organisations whose aims you agree with and support them - financially if you can, or by campaigning, or whatever it is that floats your boat. Find something to get passionate about and do what you can. Think about voluntary work - it's amazing the variety of things that it's possible to do. I'm a charity trustee. Previously I did housework for people with AIDS. Other people help out at a charity shop, or run a TraidCraft stall at church, or spend a week repairing dry stone walls in the countryside, or record the varieties of insects/plants found in a corner of a field, all sorts of things. Find little things to do in your own home - examples off the top of my head are silly things like use low-energy light bulbs and rechargeable batteries, buy organic and/or locally-produced food, if you have a garden make your own compost (it's really easy, and ever so satisfying!). None of those things are difficult or particularly expensive or time-consuming.
Most of all I think I'd say dare to take risks. Obviously don't do anything foolish, but even though I've done things that some people think are really brave, to be honest what's the worst thing that could have happened if any of them had gone pear-shaped? Maybe if I'd spent more time counting costs I wouldn't have done some things, or would have made different decisions, but they're done now and part of my story.
3. You mentioned in a recent post that your Phd won't be finished until you've turned 40. Thinking back, as you approached your 30th birthday, was it a cause for a pre mid-life crisis? a massive celebration? or did it squeeze past you totally unnoticed?
I was really excited about turning 30. I'd spent a lot of my 20s meandering along not really knowing what I wanted to do other than vaguely thinking about doing something worthy in eastern Europe, and not really knowing who I was (if that makes sense). I became 30 just before I qualified as a nurse, so it felt like it represented an entirely new start - a job with a purpose, more idea of who I was and what I might want to do. Funnily enough, as I was training as a mature student, most of those with whom I was studying had only just entered their 20s, and couldn't understand at all why I was so excited about leaving them! I couldn't afford a big party though at the time, so the actual celebration was pretty low-key.
I did have a mid-life-crisis, but that was at 28. I'd been doing nurse training less than a year, my (younger) sister had just got married, one of my closest friends was about to have her first baby, lots of my friends were buying property and getting promoted and all that sort of thing, and here was I a student earning next to nothing, with no relationship, in a grotty house, spending most of my working time with 18 year olds who kept talking about clubbing till 4am and getting plastered. I felt like I didn't fit with my friends my age, and didn't fit with my fellow students, and had a bit of an identity crisis then. But I think I got over it :D
I can't say I'm looking forward to 40 though : (
4. Your garden is a place of inspiration for your creativity - do you have other inspirations? Other creative outlets?
Hmm, not sure about other creative outlets. I am a musician, but hardly ever play now. Maybe when I get UpNorth and back into uni, if I have time I'll try to find some like-minded people who want to jam around - a wind quintet maybe, or the G&S Soc (I love playing in G&S orchestras, it's a scream!) - but not do anything too serious. Other inspirations - it might sound corny, but other peoples' creativity, whether it be painting, composing, writing, whatever - I can get really enthusiastic and inspired by it, even if I can't create around it myself. Maybe that's why I've had so much fun doing all this London culture stuff over the last year or so. Plus obvious things like amazing scenery or weird animals or intricate plants and that sort of thing also make me really enthusiastic if not inspired.
5. You have achieved more than many single girls our age, travel, education and the acquisition of property. What do you credit as having driven you to achieve so much? What piece of advice would you give to girls coming up behind you who, for various reasons of social background or low self esteem may look at such achievements as unattainable?
To be honest, I don't see a lot of it as "achievement". It's just stuff I've done. I don't think I'm particularly driven, I just don't like being bored or stuck in a rut or in the same place for too long so find new things to do : )
As for advice - simple really, just have a go and take a risk (they only need to be little risks : ) ). I don't think that social background or low self-esteem need necessarily be barriers (I have massive issues with low self-esteem myself, and am terribly insecure - in a way the things I've done have enabled me to hide that aspect of myself behind a barrier of confidence, rather than the opposite extreme of letting insecurity stop me from doing things). Also, at the risk of sounding like a hopelessly corny self-help guru, get some friends and family round you who believe in you and your potential, even if you don't yourself.