The Future Holds A Lions Heart

Say hello to your future

I'm just pleased to meet you

You were a million miles away

Say hello to your lion's heart

Queen Victoria's England

Will never ever be the same

Giddyup!

Three years ago I made the biggest decision of my life.

To return to university and study something I had wanted to do for several years but I felt trapped and stuck in a rut and thought I could never do it.

I hated school, theres many reasons for this but generally I didn't like studying. Yes I like learning things, but on my own terms and in my own time.

So when I finished my A Levels (and after a brief stint at uni) I decided that it was the working life for me. After working in a pub for twelve months, and after my moms constant nagging, I applied for a job as a trainee estate agent in Walsall. I never thought I'd get it. But I did.

Eight years later and there I still was, an estate agent, albeit with another company and no longer a trainee. I hated it. It was the most selfish and thankless job I could have done and there was little job satisfaction. But I didn't know what to do, I wasn't trained to do anything else and I had a mortgage, bills and a car to pay for.

When my mom first suggested I go back to University I just laughed at her. How could I afford to do that? She replied 'How can you afford not to?'

And she was right, I was miserable, I was depressed, I was angry and low all the time, I hated getting up in the morning and I hated every minute of the working day.

So I applied to the University Of Wolverhampton to do a diploma in Mental Health Nursing.

I didn't expect to get on the course, I thought I was to old for all that. Then I got invited for an interview and they told me there and then that I had a place if I wanted it.

There were probably a million times that I decided that what I was going to do was silly and stupid and the wrong thing to do. I had responsibilities and I needed to work full time.

Luckily my heart won this battle and in September 2008 I became a student AGAIN.

I have just completed my second year, with great results (A,A,A and B) and it was the best thing I ever did. I love what I'm doing now, I love helping people and making a difference to peoples lives, often it's just a small change, maybe something we all take for granted, but it's worth it and everyday I love going to work.

As I sit writing this now I'm looking forward to whats to come.

This time next year I will be qualifying and looking for a job, wherever that may be.

We will be frantically planning a wedding, whilst desperately trying to lose weight, whilst killing ourselves trying to pay for it.

Then maybe we can start thinking about kids? Who knows.

The future is bright, the future is coming, it may well be hard but personally I cannot wait!