It’s been 2 years and 4 months since I gave up any ‘career’ style, stress inducing, well paid, bonus earning, confidence building, ego fuelling type of work. On the one hand it feels like yesterday. I can still hold my own when discussing technology and advancements in mobile phones and terms and conditions on a sub-contract (you’d be surprised, but it does come up once in awhile..) and yet, I’m nowhere near the frazzled, stressed, highly strung, sleepless person I was when I left Montreal.

I’m real. I feel real. I look real, when I don’t sleep well I feel it, and I need to take an early night to recover. When I don’t eat well for a few days I feel it, and I resolve to buy healthy organic vegetables and pulses for a few days to get back into gear. The same applies to Michelle. It’s a nice life in it’s easy going simplicity.

Since all the confusion and discussions on ‘what happens in May 2006’ has started, this nice easygoing life has suddenly now got an anxious overtone. With all the heartfelt discussions and endless pondering going on I’ve begun to ask myself if I have any regrets over what I’ve managed to achieve since getting to this place. I have to admit I have a few. No big ones, just small niggling things, like maintaining some kind of fitness level. I used to trick my mind into going to the gym by threatening to myself, “if I don’t go everyday, I should get a 9-5pm job” and while it seemed to work for a time, it’s long since become ineffective. There is always tomorrow has become a frequent mantra. I never made it to art school over here which was always a plan, but that’s more to do with £ than anything else right now, since being here for less than 3 years puts us in the ‘international student’ category and therefore more than triples the fees…

And yet, on the other hand I have a list of achievements that I’m proud of which I might never have managed had I continued to work at break-neck pace in my chosen career.

There’s always an up-side, a flip-side, a reason for whatever falls into our lap. One of the most important lessons I’ve come across over the last 2 years and 4 months…