The Eternal Optimist: No going back

My wife was made redundant just before lockdown from her sales role in the events industry. The likelihood of re-employment at the time was slim, especially with COVID looming so, with all credit to her, she has started her own business, working from home making traybakes (feel free to check out and give a like to “The MB Fairy” on FB and Instagram).

Wind forward to today, and she was recently headhunted for a new position similar to her last. To be honest, I was quite happy when I heard the news. For the last 12 months my home hasn’t been my home, with traybakes and their paraphernalia everywhere, the smell of chocolate permeating the whole house and 4am interruptions to my sleep as the MB Fairy headed to the kitchen to cut traybakes. Oh how I have wished that things would just go back to normal! A 9-5-ish job with a company car, and my home returned to peace.

Then it hit me: there is no returning to normal. There never has been. Nothing ever stays the same: kids grow up; clients pass away or move on; businesses evolve. What we experience as “normal” is just our familiarity with the last change. Even if the MB Fairy returns to gainful employment (the process is not yet complete), it will simply bring with it a different set of issues, challenges and solutions. Perhaps the lesson in it all was not the changes forced on us: perhaps it was the way that she has bravely stood up to them and discovered a way to turn her hobby into an opportunity. I can’t remember who said it, but the past is never as good as we remember and the future is seldom as scary as it seems. Maybe all we ever really need to do is roll up our sleeves and get on with it!