By nature most people are “risk-adverse” especially when vulnerable with family and responsibilities to others. I really subscribe to this saying:

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
― Helen Keller, The Open Door

 

Change brings with it insecurities – it is hard to accept that our security lies purely within ourselves – the broader world often gives us the illusion of security- working for a listed or well established company is supposed to ensure life time employability. We know differently – if we don’t it is time to have a wakeup call.

Accepting that security lies mostly in our own hands it enables us to take accountability and responsibility for our lives and energises us releasing positive endorphins. We invest in ourselves – we look for life time employability – we have or should have a good work life balance. As a workaholic I am currently scheming on a number of ideas so that when I hit Canada I am life time employable, something won’t work and hopefully somethings will.

My determination lies in the value that I place on myself and the belief that I do have something to offer and in that, lies my security. Nothing nor no one is going to take that away from me regardless of my age – there has to be something of a genetic component in this as my mentor and cousin is a man of 85 who still goes to work every morning and has to be chased out of the office to get him to take prolonged vacations. He is still a valuable contributor and if this was taken away from him I do not know what he would do.

My mind buzzes with ideas –I have to have an income coming in, it is who I am: Reward for work done and a great sense of achievement at the end of the day – the money is important however it is almost secondary.

This brings me back to when my husband was killed and after the finances were wound up there was very little to sustain the family as he was young and was only getting established. The move to Johannesburg from a small “dorp” was a necessary step as there was no way I could earn the kind of money there that was needed to maintain a reasonable life style.

I made a promise to myself that my children would have the same standard of living that they would have had, had their father lived. No 2 bedded room in Hillbrow – no way!!!!  I could not allow failure to cross my mind.

Standard 8 education and purely administration skills I sailed forth into the Johannesburg Work Force over 30 years ago. Shock and surprise – I had no idea what I was capable of and when the Recruitment Company that gave me my first interview offered me a job, and paid me the princely sum of R1200 per month, I was over the moon I couldn’t believe that I was worth this – it was a very good salary at the time.

Six months later I went back and said “if you think that I am going to work like I do for this salary you are mistaken” and I got R1800 per month and a car. I had the track record of achievement to back it – had I continued as a housewife I would never have known what I was capable of and that was just the beginning of my career path.

So from being married, doing part-time work, contributing time to the various charities and attending tea parties with my children or “play dates” as they are now called, in a secure and safe environment to

Being thrust into being the main bread earner overnight it is not hard to understand the desperate thoughts at night about the future of the family, my ability to handle the changes, to be a single mother and a full time employee with no real marketable skills only my determination to succeed and keep the promise to myself – it seemed an insurmountable mountain to climb.

Going back to Helen Keller “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”  I had to turn all of this into a “Daring Adventure” accepting that the only security that I had was inside me.

Bearing in mind that there are other forms of security where did this lead me to……………