Here I go - I’m learning again

Looking back at my life I can see times when I’ve been learning big time.

• Retrained as a social worker

• Learning about Gestalt and becoming a psychotherapist; then setting up a training centre

• Running a business for the first time

• Becoming a mum

• Shifting into the business environment as an executive coach

Each time was intense. It wasn’t just taking in new information; my life was shifting on it’s axis. Re-learning the world in a new setting as well as discovering the parts of me that had so far been hidden or under utilised.

Now I’m at it again.

If you’d asked me about my retirement, not sure what I’d have said - I’d always been too busy to think about it. But I am quite sure that Content Creator would not have been on the list of possibilities. Yet here I am with my axis going all over the place.

So many different elements:

• Working out the tech

• Coming up with ideas

• Managing the filming

• Learning how to edit

• Having the courage to actually post and be seen

• Managing people’s reactions to me – good and bad

• Forever being the oldest person in a room of nubile young things

Yet as my axis shifts, so I can feel myself changing. I am finally living out my passion. It’s not easy or comfortable, but it matters to me more than any other work I’ve done.

It’s all about the planet

 

Climate and environment lie at the heart of everything I do and say. That’s been true since the early 1970’s but I got used to being discreet. I soon learned that I was facing ridicule whenever I mentioned climate change or ‘global warming’ as we called it then. No one wanted to know – it was much easier to pretend that it wasn’t going to happen - even though the evidence was plentiful.

So I did everything I knew to do. I marched to save the whale and the rainforests, joined Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace when they emerged, wrote letters to my MP……

I also began the lifelong journey of greening my life. It was an exploration, a learning and a challenge.  When I look back, I was not achieving that much, but I have to give myself leeway – I was doing the best I knew to do at the time.

There’s a lot more help out there nowadays, because finally more people are caring. And of course, it’s becoming much more urgent – in fact, it doesn’t get more urgent than this.

Still of course, I have to steel myself for the deniers who tell me I’m talking rubbish. Sometimes others will step in and join the conversation which is so good! But I know there will always be horrible comments to any post or reel that mentions the climate crisis. I have to see that as part of the job.

Is this a career?

Not quite sure what it is I’m doing. It doesn’t feel like a career. This isn’t about making money and that’s always been my connection with ‘career’. I actively don’t take on brand deals. Trust is such a big issue in the world today that I don’t want to leave room for doubt.

I’m just another homeowner who’s made home energy efficient and who is living as green a life as possible. Everything I share is something I’ve done or used myself or something I’ve just learned about. I do have some favourite brands that I suggest people explore but that’s always because they are providing quality information that homeowners need.

Mind you – all the learning is costing me money!

Social media is a craft. Seen from the perspective of a scroller, it looks easy – at least that’s how I thought about it. Sadly for me – I now realise – I went viral too soon. It meant I didn’t have to learn my craft. I had it easy and rocketed up from 311 followers to 30K in one month.

So now, as the numbers go up and down, I need to settle in and do the learning. I’ve had those awful sleepless night when the algorithm fed me endless advisors who told me to niche down, share everything to stories, only speak to camera, never speak to camera – the list goes on and on and on. End result, totally confused, lost my confidence and needed someone I could trust.

All of which led me to Jun Yuh and Creator College. As I come to the end of a couple of months of training, I’m exhausted, still got a massive amount to learn, but ready to keep going in the hope that this will help me get my message out to even more people.

Major learning

The experience of being with so many young people has been a game changer for me. My memory of ‘granny’ is pleated skirts and twinsets (if you even know what a twinset it!). It’s about being done, out of date, irrelevant other than for childcare.

Now here I am, in a group of 20 – 30 year olds, with just the occasional 50+ to keep me company. I expected to be irrelevant to them, but I’m not. They want to hear what I have to say, they encourage me to speak out more and they tell me to ignore the naysayers.

It’s exciting. We have so much to teach each other. I have information they need – especially about their future world. They have loads to tell me about trends, what’s important to young people now and of course, tech just comes easily to their fingertips.

They keep me young!

From my grandkids to my new social media mates – they keep me young. I’m starting again with so much new and exciting to learn about. And that brings a spring to my step and a sparkle in my eye

And so my greatest learning: to be energetic and youthful requires a brain that is sparky and interested. Old age thrives on boredom and tedium. If we are willing to embrace it, there is new life available. We just need to be open to invitation and opportunity. So whatever you are thinking of – have a go – give it a try and see where you get to. I’d love to hear.

If you're working on your home...

If you’re working on your home and you’d like to understand more about energy efficiency, I wrote two books to help you: What the Builder Won’t Tell You and Beginner’s Guide to Eco Renovation. I wrote both to give you the basics in plain English so you know the right questions to ask at the outset in order to get the home you want, without having to do remedial work like us!