Adventure

Hi,

I don’t know if you’ll remember me, but we spoke a few years ago.

I thought you’d like to know where things are now as there have been some quite drastic changes! I ended up leaving the school and took 2024 as a sabbatical year. I travelled a bit, going to Edinburgh, LA, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Budapest and South Africa through the year. I also published a children’s picture book that I’d been sitting on for a few years! I started a website and blog that can be found at abikennedywrites.co.uk.

 I did some supply teaching and ended up retraining in project management. I started a new job this week in a project coordinator role, based in central London. It feels like a good fit, if not a bit overwhelming with lots of new things! But I’m in a much better place mentally and emotionally now, and have shared the tools I got from you with others. 

I hope you’re well,

In the tough times of our lives we can only hope that we have someone, anyone, come alongside us and help us to keep going. I was lucky with the people who supported me, but not all of them have stayed in my life. Some people are only there for a season right? But I wrote this to a couple of people who said they’d like to know how things turn out for me. I wonder if they still remember me and wonder how I’m doing. I know I think about the kids I’ve taught over the years and wonder how things turned out for them.

I had one reach out to me recently, which was utterly delightful (once I got over how old the interaction made me feel!) It was amazing to hear how things had gone over the past decade for him; lots of twists and turns and still just the beginning.

It made me think about how new things can only come when old things end. I started a new job this week, in a new sector, with new people, in a new place, with new systems and knowledge and routines. It’s overwhelming. But I know it’s going to be good. So so good.

Only today did I take the time to pause and listen to how I’m feeling. There is the excitement that comes with new things, an unexpected contentment with this path I’m on now. And there is sadness. A grieving of the path I was on, the goals I thought I was working towards, an identity in a profession. All of that is still part of me, and who knows what the future holds, but I know I need to honour the grief. Goodbyes are healthy. Closure matters. Only when things close can you move on properly.

Adventure

What they don’t tell you about adventure is how it terrifies.

They don’t remind you to say goodbye to yourself.

By its very nature, adventure is life-shattering.

It takes a version of yourself and re-forms it completely.

Sure, the essence of you remains, but even that is grown, destroyed, evolved, reborn.

Every beginning starts with an end.