PULL OUT YOUR PLAN

The one the world said no to…

I dropped out of my last year at school with an eating disorder, despite having always been a perfect A pupil.

I left university after a few months following a nervous breakdown.

I barely managed to keep a job throughout my twenties, never mind a career, due to poor mental health, lack of coping skills and possible undiagnosed neurodiversion.I aimed high and often achieved a lot but with shaky self-belief there was always a crash and burn.

I have no training or further educational prowess…despite a foretold ‘unfulfilled academic potential’, a phrase which requires so much support for many of us to achieve.

In my mid 40s, I began something new…

A few years later I am now a Sunday Times Bestselling author and a ‘success’ in a category which is seen as only for an elite few. I outsold every other poet in the UK the last two years over.

I am asked to speak to young people as an example of inspirational prowess.

I am invited to speak to all manner of wonderful humans, who simply enjoy the words that tumble out of my mind.

I am able to write for a living, something I only ever believed to be a fantasy.

This is not a brag, my friends, please please hear me on that. I am not someone who counts my achievements for anything other than good use.

And I refuse to attach my self-worth to something that moves.

A thing I learned the hard way.

This is simply, and I hope, powerfully, a reminder…

that you have whatever you need within you

and whilst qualifications are important, your belief in your self, your passion for your pathway, is much more powerful.

And your dreams, your desires need not be folly or fancy.

People are out there making them real, every day.

Whether that starts from youth or from the middle point in life, where we suddenly wake up from a slumber of ‘doing’ and realise we haven’t been living.

This world is yours for the moulding, my friends, and remember… dreams can be whatever you like. They can be small and wholesome, or large and dazzling.

You may dream of a peaceful life or one filled with noise and adventure.

Whatever it is, you can have it.

You should have it.

And I believe you must have it.

If I had told everyone age 17 I wanted to be a poet… they may have laughed. I’m sure they would have discouraged me.

So, here I am, ready to encourage you.. to reach into your solar plexus and pull out your ‘plan’.

The one the world said no to. Or they would have, had you been brave enough to speak it.

But you are brave enough now. Or at least wise enough to do it afraid.

Or at least you have learned that bravery is available when you need it, even if it feels absent it will swoop in like a superhero just at the right moment. It won’t let you down.

Just begin… the world may not recognise your contribution immediately but the universe will. And it’s her you need on side.

(It is national wear a hat day for brain tumour research, hence the image below #wearahatday)