You know the saying: man plans and God laughs? The older I’ve grown, the more this has resonated with me. Reflecting on this recently, it’s amusing how you envision life going and how things turn out in reality. For example, ten years ago if you had asked me where I was going to be in 10 years, I would have told you with 110% certainty that I was going to be a Doctor (a GP specifically). That was my career of choice that I’d set my heart on from secondary school when you had to think about your future plans. I was pretty sure I was all left brain without an ounce of creativity (I loved maths, was good at science and absolutely no interest in creativity of any sort – could not draw to save my life). I aspired to go into business and eventually be my own boss but only after I’d spent at least 10 years practicing my career. I thought adulting was going to be a cinch – ha! Fast forward 10 years and boy oh boy did life work out very differently to this.
Turns out I actually didn’t want to be a Doctor. I got to my final year studying BioMed having planned to then re-apply to Medicine and I realised I really didn’t enjoy what I was doing and I just wasn’t interested. The thought of committing more time and studies to chase Medicine was unbearable. When I initially made the choice to become a Dr I wanted a role in a field I was interested in that allowed me to work with people, was stable, 9-5(ish), and financially satisfying. Maths (which was actually my favourite subject) seemed to just lead to roles in Finance or Statistics which was the biggest snooze fest for me (just me though – obviously much respect to everyone that enjoys these fields 😀 ). Science (the next subject in line) had a variety of not so well paid options (a travesty given how much impact this field has on society) which weren’t centred on working with people except for Medicine. Being a GP would give me as close to a 9-5 in this field as possible so decision made. Fast forward to my third year of BioMed having selected classes to be as similar as possible to those in Medicine, I was miserable. I still didn’t enjoy it and it showed. It took me near the entire duration of the degree to come to that realisation and accept it. But finally I was done. There had to be much more fulfilling ways to achieve what I wanted out of a career – I needed to find something I was truly passionate about. So to the drawing board I went. In the process of soul searching I realised in addition to the aforementioned desires for my career, I also wanted the opportunity to explore business and management with whatever I did. I eventually discovered the wonderful world of HR and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. To this day I’m so happy and relieved (thank God for the revelation you know) about taking a different direction at that juncture of my life.
To be honest, I thought that was it for surprises and significant discoveries in my life. Turns out there were still more to come.
Some other discoveries / surprises so far:
- I really enjoy photography and I’m actually somewhat good at it (shameless plug 1: check out my latest post!)
- Business venture came several years early in an unexpected area – (shameless plug 2 – BOX BOSS)
- I enjoy design – my business venture above led me to creating my own designs and prints (shameless plug 3: Inspired Ink). Still can’t draw (on paper) to save my life but I can pull a few shapes together via digital means and it’s not always a total disaster
- Turns out I am a little right brain afterall – there’s hope, yaay!
- I love web development – so much so I’m now doing it freelance (shameless plug 4: CND).
So, man plans and God laughs. There’s also a couple of Bible scriptures to this effect that I love:
Proverbs 16:1 New Living Translation (NLT)
We can make our own plans,
but the Lord gives the right answer.
Proverbs 16:9 New Living Translation (NLT)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+16%3A1%2C9&version=NLT
We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps.
Often we make plans and things go in a different direction. You can have everything go to plan and end up miserable yet have your plans turned upside down and it turns out to be the best thing ever. What I learned is to be open to the direction life takes and that God steers. Turns out God legit knows what He’s doing you know ?
How about you? Any surprises along the road? Or did things work out exactly as you imagined?
All my best,
