At school I never really knew what I wanted to do career-wise but knew I was organised and therefore fell into administration. I met my husband, got married and had two daughters and two step-daughters. I knew I’d always wanted to be a mummy so to get that chance with 4 was wonderful. As my girls grew up and became more independent I started to question what I was doing with my life, what were my gifts and was I using them to the best of my ability? What will I do when my children leave home? Do I want to just plod along in a job that I wasn’t really thriving in? So, when I started my blossom journey I was at a bit of a crossroads. As a Christian I was praying for God to show me where I was meant to be next and came across a magazine article about dream on and the blossom charity and what it did for women and I was immediately interested - it sounded just what I needed AND was free! I completed the application form and hoped I’d be accepted! My confidence was at a low and looking at the programme of the course, I was itching to get started and I got an email to say I could start on the next course. Yes!
After a chemistry session and matching me with a coach we had our first session which was making a mood board of all the things we love to do. This was right up my street as I love being creative and, realising that I don’t do any of the things on my board anymore, it gave me the confidence to start them up again and the realisation as to some of the reasons I was feeling low. I started to do some sketching and drew a friend’s pug. I hadn’t really done any drawing since school, 20 odd years ago, and had lots of comments on how good it was so continued enjoying every minute of it.
During the course, in between the brilliant workshops, we had our individual coaching sessions. I spent the first two in tears! I thought I was boring, didn’t like my Myers-Briggs results or my StrengthsFinder results and all I could see was that I was boringly employable, being ‘responsible’ and ‘disciplined’ but I wanted to be ‘Woo’ or ‘Fun Loving’. However, my wonderful coach and a lot of prayer helped me to love my strengths and the gifts I’ve been given. I loved the way each strength was individual to the person, even though one of the others in my group may have had ‘Empathy’ as a strength, the paragraph explaining about how we used them as an individual was completely different and unique to that person. My coach helped me to plan for the next year of my life, with several different options if certain paths didn’t lead me anywhere. This really helped my confidence and gave a direction to my life and one where I was able to use these discovered strengths. It was lovely to be able to sit with someone and be allowed to talk about myself, have a bit of me time and resolve some problems.
I tell everyone about how brilliant blossom are and will find everything I learned especially useful when communicating and getting alongside the women
One of the workshops that particularly stood out for me was ‘Career Coach Yourself’. It was so helpful to find out how it's possible to completely change your career. At this point I was looking at becoming a self-employed artist, having discovered my talent for graphite pencil drawing, or to look into following my niggly dream of becoming a midwife, so I laid it all on the table so to speak. I’d never thought that either of these options was at all possible having not done A-Levels or a degree, but the workshop (and the planning with my coach) helped me to see that there were ways to make it a reality if I really wanted to.
I also found the Myers-Briggs results really interesting. Knowing my character, how I ticked, what made me frustrated, how to deal with people that were the complete opposite to me and how to get along with them and essentially why God had made me, me! My daughter has recently done the teen programme and it’s been so useful for us to talk through our opposites and how we can meet in the middle and achieve some harmony when there are differences of opinion.
So…. following my plan and having pursued being a self-employed artist, making enough to go self-employed, I couldn’t get rid of the niggly feeling that all my strengths and the whisper in my bones were leading me to midwifery. With my new confidence I took the plunge (love that word) and signed up to an Access to Higher Education Science course and was accepted. Knowing my strengths (and weaknesses) helped me to write a personal statement for university courses and I got interviews and offers from both the universities I applied for!! I achieved an overall distinction on my access course and began my degree in Feb 2020 and can’t wait. I tell everyone about how brilliant blossom are and will find everything I learned especially useful when communicating and getting alongside the women I will be caring for in my new career!
Thanks blossom!