“Choose Life”

We take inspiration from the people we interact with and the experiences we have, we may not notice it in the moment, but it is happening continuously. We are influenced and guided along our path every moment of every day.

Some time ago I came across the work of someone that has become an inspiration to me. Emma Gannon; Author, podcaster, speaker and blogger – came to me through a book called The Multi-Hyphen Method. From the moment I opened the front cover, I knew the experience of reading her book would bring me the opportunity I needed to know exactly which step to choose next. At the time of reading Emma’s book, I was most definitely at one of those infamous life “cross-roads” where you are questioning what you are doing and why. So the principles of creating a Multi-Hyphen career made so much sense to me that I have begun to [slowly] create my own little Multi-Hyphen world. The Multi-Hyphen Method is an approach which enables you to have multiple strings to your bow and provide career variety as well as choice.

The Multi-Hyphen Method enabled me to see for myself how much I value doing work that has real meaning and purpose, as well as enabling personal balance, not allowing myself to burn out. Reading this book triggered a series of decisions and the curiosity of the ‘side-hustle’ concept. A side-hustle is work which we take on alongside our main job, this may or may not be paid, but is likely to be something we feel a real passion for. In fact, my first ‘side-hustle’ was being brave enough to begin Dream Big : Believe Bigger in order to share some of my own stories via my blog.  Oftentimes when you begin a side-hustle it’s not something that brings vast financial income immediately, however if you nurture and grow whatever it is you are working on, there is a possibility that in time it can create an income avenue… in turn enabling a career in which we can not only thrive financially but also thrive through being passionate about the work we do.

I regularly share the inspiration I took from reading Emma’s book with peers and friends, in the hope that others may experience the profound impact the book had on me and the choices I make.

Fast forward a few years and the discovery that Emma has just published a novel called Olive, the excitement to read this book was massive, and the experience didn’t disappoint. I read Olive cover to cover in two days, it was so compelling, I’ve never read a fiction book which resonated with me so greatly.

Olive follows the story of four childhood friends that choose to take different paths in life. The focus is set around the narrative of the often difficult decisions we need to make as women regarding career choices and the desire to have a family. Highlighting along the way some of the stigma many women seem to attract when making the life choice not to have children.

I made the choice at a very young age that having my own children was not in my life’s path. This was a decision that came quite easily to me. However, oddly, it does not seem to sit so well with others. The number of times I have been told, “oh, you’ll change your mind when the time is right for you” and … “you’re so good with kids, you have to have your own” and the most condescending or all… “you miss out on so much in life if you choose not to have kids?”

Early on in my twenties and early thirties the comments shifted “when are you gonna have kids?” astounding to me that people would assume “when” and not “if”. And now in my later thirties, the most common reaction is “what?? … you don’t have children [eyes agog] really, oh?!” … like it’s some kind of life failure as opposed to a life choice!

I often get the sense people assume you are a selfish person, when you make the choice not to have children. To the contrary, in fact, I feel I am actually able to give more of myself to more of the people I love … and that is what makes me truly fulfilled. I chose to give my whole self to my friends, family and people I work with.

What is important is that we all choose life in a way that works for us, even if this is not what people want or expect from us. I am happy with the small ‘side-hustles’ which fulfill my Multi-Hyphenated career choices knowing that in my work I have the space to give back to others.

What would you choose for your dream Multi-Hyphenated Career? What is stopping you to make a start … go ahead DREAM BIG : BELIEVE BIGGER

CHOOSE LIFE !!

If you are curious to learn more about Emma’s inspirational work you can follow her blog, and her podcast, and find out more about her books.