Success is a journey...

I have just been considering when to start decorating HfH for Christmas and have had a contemplative moment (always dangerous).

I was transported back to Christmas 2011, a pivotal point, and oh such a lot has happened in those 4 years – this is where the screen goes wavy to illustrate going back in time….

My Mum and Dad died within a month of each other – this hits me at the most strange times; and a fact that haunts me daily is that no family member could get to the hospital in time to hold Dads hand – totally out of my control I know, but it still hangs around.

I gave up paid employment to pursue a new B&B venture, which took off really well, only to have Mr HfH made redundant (the B&B was not a big enough venture to sustain us both). Around the same time my Mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and also had a stroke…

We decided to up sticks and move half way down the country to support our family through this time. Fortunately, there was a full recovery, but then we had to decide how to support ourselves – 2 middle-aged people (albeit with an abundance of skills) trying to find employment was not the most productive part of our lives, and no matter how much organisations say that they don’t discriminate against age – THEY DO!!!!! I went along to approximately 25 interviews to no avail, apprantly I was "too qualified'. Savings having run out, we were facing bankruptcy and being homeless.

EeeeeeeeeeK

Cut to ‘now’ and we are living in a beautiful 8 bedroomed farmhouse in the Dorset countryside which is also our livelihood. Our first 6 months since opening Home Farm House have surpassed our wildest projections and the future is looking good. Mr HfH is concentrating on his second novel and working hard to secure an agent (there is no such thing as an ‘overnight success’) and there are other irons in the fire to use the skills and experience we have amassed over the years.

It’s funny isn’t it; sometimes you need to have your back up against the wall in order to get motivated to move towards success; when you don’t have anything else to lose you may as well throw caution to the wind and give life everything you have. Opportunities are all around us, we just have to open our eyes and minds to the possibilities and grab them – yes it takes courage and yes, it takes hard work, creative thinking and sleepless nights – but success very rarely comes without conditions.

So the next time you see someone enjoying a break in life, don’t cast them a sneering glance, think that they are lucky, in the right place at the right time or any other envious cliché. Tip them a congratulatory wink, a thumbs up or a virtual pat on the back – because you never know the journey that has been taken on their road to success.