I asked a friend the other day “What would you do if you could start another career now – all over again – without any of the limitations you feel would stand in your way if you were really to try and do that?” We discussed the way doing that might mean abandoning restrictions like age, training, qualifications, mindset, but not the real essence of personality that is non-negotiable, the character and temperament that makes a person who he is. He thought for a long while and then said, to my great surprise, “I would probably be a TV or radio presenter or a chat show host!” It was such a complete change from what he does now that it took me a while to take it in. But, strangely, when I pushed aside pre-conceived ideas, I realised that it was a brilliant choice – one which was not at all unreasonable, but which would use many of his talents and free him from some of the incompatible elements of his present job. Why not?
Imagination is a wonderful thing. It frees us from our present reality, the humdrum routine of our everyday lives, and sets us on another course, even if just for a short while. In our early married life, living in a London suburb, we spent a lot of time imagining. We would imagine where we might live one day when we had the opportunity to move somewhere more to our taste – our ‘escape to the country’. After a few years we achieved the house move of our dreams. It was doubtless not what everyone would want but, to us, it was the fulfilment of a lot of planning and dreaming. The prize? – a three bedroom semi on the Isle of Wight, with a beautiful garden and a ‘sea glimpse’ from the back bedroom. In our terms we had ‘made it’!
On the island we quickly settled in, started a family, acquired a cat and made friends. The nature of the island and the lack of employment opportunities there meant that the population contained a higher percentage than normal of dreamers and ‘entrepreneurs’. Self-employed businessmen and women abounded, setting up tea rooms, guest houses and sailing centres, fishing or painting and decorating. Seasonal employment in the tourist trade was the only form of career for many. We will never forget one particular couple of idealistic schemers with whom we spent many hilarious hours, inventing crazy money-making ventures like motorised prams and coffin-shaped wardrobes (‘lasts a lifetime and never wasted’)! None of us had the practical know-how or business sense to turn any of our imaginings into reality but we had a lot of fun.
Nowadays I do most of my dreaming on holiday. Holidays are the times when I can indulge my romantic ideas of being someone else ‘just for a while’. Like the participants on TV shows who try out other people’s dream houses in the countryside, experience what it is like to be a ballroom dance champion or a master chef, or try out the lifestyle ‘down under’, my holidays give me the chance to try out life in another setting. I can be wined and dined on a balmy Mediterranean hotel terrace, as the sun sets over the bay, I can experience life in a tiny country cottage with oak beams and no dishwasher, I can try out a narrow boat on the waterways and drift lazily through locks, or imagine what it might be like to live in another country way outside my comfort zone.
Usually when we dream we look forward to it with great anticipation, throw ourselves into it for a few days or weeks and then go home, breathing a sigh of relief that home in fact means a comfy bed, a dishwasher and no crocodiles. However, occasionally, maybe once in a lifetime, we dream ourselves into reality! Coming home, we have a revelation and decide that what we tried out for fun suited us better than what we have back home! Our move from London to the Isle of Wight had its source in one of those ‘imaginings’, which quickly turned from a holiday dream to reality, with no regrets. Who knows, maybe my friend will end up presenting the BBC Breakfast Show after all!
Imagination is a wonderful thing. It frees us from our present reality, the humdrum routine of our everyday lives, and sets us on another course, even if just for a short while. In our early married life, living in a London suburb, we spent a lot of time imagining. We would imagine where we might live one day when we had the opportunity to move somewhere more to our taste – our ‘escape to the country’. After a few years we achieved the house move of our dreams. It was doubtless not what everyone would want but, to us, it was the fulfilment of a lot of planning and dreaming. The prize? – a three bedroom semi on the Isle of Wight, with a beautiful garden and a ‘sea glimpse’ from the back bedroom. In our terms we had ‘made it’!
On the island we quickly settled in, started a family, acquired a cat and made friends. The nature of the island and the lack of employment opportunities there meant that the population contained a higher percentage than normal of dreamers and ‘entrepreneurs’. Self-employed businessmen and women abounded, setting up tea rooms, guest houses and sailing centres, fishing or painting and decorating. Seasonal employment in the tourist trade was the only form of career for many. We will never forget one particular couple of idealistic schemers with whom we spent many hilarious hours, inventing crazy money-making ventures like motorised prams and coffin-shaped wardrobes (‘lasts a lifetime and never wasted’)! None of us had the practical know-how or business sense to turn any of our imaginings into reality but we had a lot of fun.
Nowadays I do most of my dreaming on holiday. Holidays are the times when I can indulge my romantic ideas of being someone else ‘just for a while’. Like the participants on TV shows who try out other people’s dream houses in the countryside, experience what it is like to be a ballroom dance champion or a master chef, or try out the lifestyle ‘down under’, my holidays give me the chance to try out life in another setting. I can be wined and dined on a balmy Mediterranean hotel terrace, as the sun sets over the bay, I can experience life in a tiny country cottage with oak beams and no dishwasher, I can try out a narrow boat on the waterways and drift lazily through locks, or imagine what it might be like to live in another country way outside my comfort zone.
Usually when we dream we look forward to it with great anticipation, throw ourselves into it for a few days or weeks and then go home, breathing a sigh of relief that home in fact means a comfy bed, a dishwasher and no crocodiles. However, occasionally, maybe once in a lifetime, we dream ourselves into reality! Coming home, we have a revelation and decide that what we tried out for fun suited us better than what we have back home! Our move from London to the Isle of Wight had its source in one of those ‘imaginings’, which quickly turned from a holiday dream to reality, with no regrets. Who knows, maybe my friend will end up presenting the BBC Breakfast Show after all!
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