When stuff happens around you and life takes some twists and turns, no doubt you seek advice from someone older and wiser…
My Mum and I were chatting the other day about ‘stuff’. I usually whinge and she throws out some sensible conversation. Lately I have been complaining about “what will I really do with myself…” kinda thing. Actually, I’ve been doing this a lot since being on The Block. Being on reality tv doesn’t give you a job, so I’m trying to work out exactly what I would be good at… (I gave you a look back on my 20’s here).
My Mum said something that I cannot stop thinking about. She said “I know this sounds strange, but it’s true: when you hit your 40’s you become invisible.” I was like, really? How? She believes that if you haven’t got yourself sorted by the time you’re 40, then it’s too hard to get a job/career and compete with 20 year old’s. Our population is over-run by Gen-Y, and they are taking over the world.
I thought about it for days. Maybe it’s true. I mean, I can’t say if it’s true or not because I am not yet in my 40’s, but what if I got to 40 and realised I could no longer compete?
So, Mum asked me to sort myself out and get a job. Even retrain, or do a course. You see, I’d be happy to watch tv, and blog forever, but that doesn’t pay the bills 😉 She told me my kids were only “on loan” and they will leave me, then I will have a good 20 years left to work and be my own person. She said if I don’t sort that out now, it won’t be easy to compete with those 20 year old’s. I did the maths and I know my boys will all have their own lives by the time I am in my early 40’s. She reminded me of a time in her life when they moved to Albury and I was at boarding school. She was only 38. I couldn’t believe how the time had flown by. I couldn’t believe she was 38! So Mum asked me to think about things and make a plan…
But I’m still not sure…