Forget-Me-Not
Like the night that makes way for the light of dawn
January 2015 kicked-off 18 days ago and for many, the Merry/Happy/epiphany moments that we accumulated over the holiday season have been dampened by the gloomy winter and the reality of routine and habits. Everyone is back at the office, either tanned, fluffier, pregnant, engaged or in some other way, reflecting their experiences over those festive times. January presents a frightening moment as one goes through the exit door of December into the promising but unknown door of “this New Year will be it ”, with all the powerful promises and expectations we place on it.
MMXIV
2014 surpassed all my dreams. I reached a moment in my life where my plans were falling into place. From the top my journey might sound exotic. I am a french and smooth caribbean, with a german name who left his tropical Island for France aged 19 after dropping out of medical school with an aspiration to become engineer or designer. It was the first time that I had chosen sacrifice as a part of my way of living. Leaving the security and comfort behind towards hope of making my dreams a reality. I set up my hope with a plan which came in two phases. Phase 1 was to engineer or design things, to absorb as much knowledge as possible through, both, an array of part time professional roles and the new life experiences Paris had to offer an Island boy.
After my graduation, my plan moved to the next phase: discover a new land, learn a new language and start an international career. With my diploma in my backpack, I landed in London in 2012 to start putting phase 2 into action. Since, things have been incredible! Not easy, but definitely inspiring. On one hand, the hours have been hectic — you can find some glimpses of my work in showcase here. On the other hand the pleasure and pride felt in finally being recognised as a “User Experience Designer” is phenomenal and I have been lucky to have been able to build my career and experiences within great companies working for worldwide clients. In 2014, I finally touched the ceiling of the aspirations I held when I left Guadeloupe then Paris and finally all the boxes have been checked.
In addition to finally ticking these checkboxes, I undertook a Spiritual Journey in India. From Pondicherry to Delhi I met with my soul. An entire path through an incredible life-dream.
At this exact moment I realised that I had achieved my 10-year plan in only 2 years…
Now, what’s next?!
Becoming asynchronous — I/O
So what now? Over the last few weeks I have started to receive messages or calls from my friends asking me: “Hey mate, ‘sup? Have you received my fax?! :-o” or “I am pretty sure you are up to something, because your silence sounds really busy!”. To be honest, I have been struggling with replying on time to texts or emails. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s because I have recognised that I need to step out for a bit. When you finally meet your goals, where do you go?
I have found myself in a position where I felt I needed to step back from the hectic day-to-day life to become less Involved/more Observant. Stepping to the side of a hyper-connected lifestyle is not easy, isn’t it? However, it is a necessary step to allow me to identify what matters and truly understand where I sit in my context. It’s a quest of finding time to convert my work, my experiences, my success and my failures into values. Then identify from the top my path.
Breath. Step back. Think. Then innovate.
I am going to sow my thoughts, water them with my ambitions and bloom in spring. I am taking a step back to be able to innovate my life, career, passion and meet with new dreams. I have not disappeared.
Dear friends, forget-me-not like the night that makes way for the light of dawn. Here is my first seed to you.
