Posted by on Feb 2, 2012 in Social News | 4 comments

Walk the courageous path

First of all what do I mean by the courageous path? Well let me say that this post was inspired by Hillman Curtis and a piece he wrote, you can find it here, in it he talks about leaving the path most people recognised him for and venturing down a new one, which was pretty scary to say the least as this guy, if you have never heard of him, is at the top of his game.

For some of us the courageous path never really presents its self or if it does it can be a very real disappointment in lots of different ways and on many levels.

If you have ever gone down the courageous path then you will relate to what I am going to share with you. If you haven’t, I am pretty sure you have but don’t realise it yet, you will identify with some parts of it!

A Story to set the scene…

When I was 37 I decided to leave my very good and well paid job to become a professional watercolour artist, remember I had a mortgage and two small children at the time, this was the very first time I took the courageous path, if you don’t count marriage to lady Jayne and our two beautiful girls. I opened a gallery, sold my paintings in the gallery, ran workshops and painting classes, which stood me in good stead for the things to come, it was hard work but life was grand :)

The second time I took the courageous path was when I decided to try my hand at becoming a website designer, the gallery and painting workshops were doing quite well but it was an itch I was dying to scratch and how hard could it be? I had registered my first domain name, kethmcmean.com, and off I went down my new courageous path. Was I prepared for the ‘change’ this path was to take me on…hell no!

I met lots of great people and had some fantastic highs and a fare share of lows, but hey it’s all part of life’s rich pattern…right? I always told myself that this was ‘my’ path and I had to walk it whatever it threw at me, good or bad!

Again I had a good job but I just thought I needed a change and to learn some new skills, so off I went off on the online marketing and email broadcast path, which after a bumpy start I made some friends I know I will have for life :)

About four years ago another path presented its self in the shape of ‘social media’ and it was one I just knew I had to take, I did, and so far I am having a fantastic time learning new skills and meeting the most interesting and generous people you could imagine.

These paths have shaped the last 15 or so years of my life and whereas I love what I do, I just know that lurking in the shadows somewhere is another undiscovered path that will take me away on another fantastic journey of learning and discovery, in fact I will let you into a secret I have already taken the first few tentative steps on this new path but more of this in a future post ;)

Everyone has taken their own personal courageous path whether they know it or not and there are so many fantastic opportunities out there it would be criminal not to take one or two of your own, don’t you think?

I will post the second part to this post in the next week or so but in the meantime I would love to hear how your paths have shaped your life, the journey’s you have taken and the people you have met along the way…

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  • http://www.sveducationalservices.co.uk Terry Harvey-Chadwick

    I’m on my second courageous path, and took a slight detour down a third last weekend. After an education dedicated to science, I left it to become an IT consultant. After 13 years, now well paid and with 3 kids, I took a 66% pay cut to become a science teacher, returning to my old love. Seven years later, and I have left teaching, now with 5 kids, to become a self employed educator specialising in science communication and being a Viking in schools. My detour last weekend was to go on Britain’s got Talent, performing in a brand new way in front of the judges and 3000 people. Well out of my comfort zone, but fantastic fun. I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my lovely wife and family and some great friends I have met along the way.

    • Keith

      Terry that’s a fantastic story and just goes to show if you stick to your courageous path what you can achieve?
      Keep us informed on how Britain’s got Talent goes?

  • http://www.gilliancrossphotography.co.uk Gillian Cross

    My courageous path was becoming self-employed. After having worked for another photographer for ten years and always saying I’d never run my own business, here I am, working from home and photographing weddings. I love it! Being your own boss is great. I guess I was always worried that if things went wrong the buck would stop with me. But they haven’t, and I have happy customers because I have the belief that I’m good at what I do. It’s all about belief in yourself. The other plus side is that I’m able to take my son to and from school every day and spend time with him.

  • Keith

    It certainly seems like you have got the ‘golden ticket’ Gillian…good for you :)

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