The Happy and Prosperous Blog

As you will gather from the title, this is part 3 of a series of posts describing my escape from the corporate cubicle. Please read part 1 and part 2 first if you would like the full story.

A Slow Start

Given that my homeopathy practice was slow to take off and my finances were a little strained, having done a 3 day a week work pattern for a year, I agreed to go back to work at the bank for 4 days a week again. This was OK. It seemed like the right decision and I did not resent this one bit. I was just disappointed that my homeopathy business had not taken off in the way I had hoped.

A Big IT Project

At this time in my career at the bank I was given a large and time critical project to deliver. I had a great team and, over the course of 3 months or so, we did all the necessary work and completed the project successfully on time and under budget. Great !! And, I knew that I could not do this type of work forever. I wanted to develop my homeopathy practice and do more of something I felt was more worthwhile so I asked to reduce my hours at the bank again.

The Dream

Photo by Martin Pettitt

My manager could not agree to my request due to my responsibilities and said she needed to do a reorganisation in the department in which she would find me a 3 day a week post. I was happy with this arrangement until I had a dream.

Now, I do not often remember my dreams. However, one night around this time I had a clear dream which I remembered the following morning and the story of it has stayed with me ever since.

In my dream I was looking at a building site. On this land a huge, immensely tall building was being constructed. It was at the early stages of construction and there was just a skeleton of girders there. On the ground there were people, machinery, mounds of earth and all sorts of construction materials.

There was a massive crane hoisting the final girders up to the highest point of the building. Two long metal girders were being lifted in a loop of chain. The steel girders were just balanced in this loop of chain. Nothing else secured them. As the crane moved I could see these steel girders start to slip. I was too far away to do anything apart from watch as these two long, heavy steel girders slipped and fell to the ground. As they came crashing down, I could see that 3 people on the ground had been killed.

Next time I’ll tell you about how I interpreted the dream.

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In the first part of this series, I introduced this excerpt from my personal history - the time when I escaped the corporate world. Do read that one before you read this post otherwise it might not make much sense !

The Start of A Change

Studying Homeopathy: Bas Relief Detail Of Charles Henry Niehaus’ 1900 Doctor Samuel Hahnemann Memorial At Scott Circle (Washington, DC)
Photo by takomabibelot

Given the enthusiasm and passion that I had developed for homeopathy, I wondered if I could make a career out of it - other people had done, so why not me ? With that idea in mind, I enrolled on a 4 year part-time course in homeopathy starting in September 1998. I went to college one full weekend every month so I could continue working at the bank without any problem.

Full Pockets, Empty Soul

As I continued with the course in homeopathy, I became convinced that I wanted to pursue this as a career. I knew that I would not earn as much money as I did at the bank but that was not the most important thing to me. The bank was looking after me financially but it was draining me emotionally and it was doing nothing for my soul. I wanted to give something back to the world - give something back to people - help people.

Homeopath vs. IT Project Manager

It’s hard to imagine two such distinct professions. As an IT project Manager I was concerned with plans, budgets, deadlines, reports, staff issues etc. As a budding homeopath I was interested in people’s health, their emotional life, what made them tick, their hopes, fears, aspirations. I was starting to live a double life !

Working Part-Time

As I started my third year at college in September 2001 I asked if I could reduce my hours at the bank to give me more time to study. The bank agreed to this and I am grateful to them for their flexibility in allowing me to work a 4 day week. As I progressed into my final year, the bank agreed to my request to work a 3 day week and, in doing so, I relinquished my role as a Project Manager and took on the job of supporting other Project Managers and Leaders in their roles.

This was great and I was able to do plenty of studying. Financially I was worse off, of course, but that was OK as I felt like I was involved in something much more worthwhile. So I finished college and got my diploma and set myself up in practice working one day a week. This was fine and I got some clients but not that many and not nearly as many as I had hoped.

At this time, following a reorganisation at work, I came under some pressure to increase my hours at the bank and return to a 4 day week.

More soon.

In this 4 (maybe 5) part series I want to share with you a small excerpt from my personal history. I want to tell you about the time, a few years ago, when I decided to leave my long-term employment in the corporate world and head off on my own. I want to tell you this to illustrate some points about what I learned in the process which may, perhaps, help you in some way.

Before we start I want to appreciate a fellow blogger, SelfMadeChick, for her recent post which talks about telling a story in a blog post. Thanks Christine for the inspiration.

Photo by webg33k

Setting The Scene

Back in 1998 I was a hard-working Project Manager in the IT department of a large bank in the UK. I was doing OK and I was being paid pretty well. I’d been working for the bank for over 10 years and I had progressed up through the organisation doing various computer related jobs including doing 18 months consultancy in Madrid with a subsidiary there. I was not in love with my job and I didn’t hate it either. I was dissatisfied in some small way and, I suppose, I was wondering if this was all there was to a working life. It was like having an itch somewhere inside me that I couldn’t scratch.

Homeopathic Treatment for My Son

A year or so before this, my son (aged around 6 then) went for some homeopathic treatment for the asthma that he had been diagnosed with. He’d had the steroid inhalers and they were working but I was concerned about long term steroid use and the possible side-effects. I didn’t know what a homeopath was in any detail, but a friend had suggested this form of complementary medicine as another way of treating his asthma.

To cut a long story short, 2 doses of a homeopathic remedy, seemed to shift his asthma and we reduced his steroids to the point that he didn’t need them any more and he was absolutely fine.

Denial and Curiosity

Given my scientific training (degree in Chemistry), I couldn’t understand how homeopathy could work. My reaction was partly denial and partly curiosity. The curiosity won out and I started to find out more about homeopathy. I got books out of the library and educated myself a little. The more I read the more fascinated I became.

In the next post in the series, I will tell you about the start of a change.