JUST AVERAGELY SUCCESSFUL

I think I am average, or maybe I have just had to admit that I am not anything else.Not a failure not a great success, just middling. 

In the AR (after retirement) period of life things change but I have actually been able to fulfill some ambitions that had eluded me in my working life.

I have become firstly the Director for Human Resources and now as well as that, the Chair of the Board .with Nottingham Credit Union (www.nottinghamcu.co.uk)........... in fact I understand that I am strictly speaking The President, .......well now President Pattman does sound quite nice............ though perhaps a bit grand, or just a little bit grand, or actually quite OK. You dear reader may choose.

 But these titles have been achieved in voluntary work, so whilst I may be a Director and in the Financial world, I have and never will get a high salary and lots of bonuses.....no share options or company cars or private jets, I still really fancy a private jet though !

This thread of thought was kick started, as I in a moment of pessimism and melancholy, thats getting older for you, you can think too much......... was writing a letter to my daughter ......... but only to be opened when I am dead, so she will have to wait. It did however cause reflections on what is success.

I made what is called Senior Management, I owned my own home,building up and taking advantage of the housing price increases, ah what happy days when you bought a house and sold it in a few years and made 30% + profits. I married and was pretty happy most of the time and had a child, I was in work most of the time in interesting organisations and I learnt a lot, some of which is still useful.

I travelled a bit but not as far as I would have liked, I never got to live abroad and its too late now..........

Of course money and possessions are important to many, the few self contented individuals, these living in harmony with nature and perhaps those with deep religious .......(we won’t go there though) .........convictions or values appreciate more abstract pleasures  and achievements.......I however like things as my previous blog entries will testify.

Others value friendships, family etc and I find myself lacking rather on both counts. Friends drift away when the bond of common workplaces is removed, families break up, people die or just move elsewhere. I used to have friends, I think but no more, not in the sense that the relationship would survive change in jobs, status, home etc

One bright spot is my daughter is getting married so I will become a Father in Law and acquire a Son in Law so you that’s something I haven’t done before !

I think my trouble is that I don’t like being ordinary, I don’t want to drive the same car as many, so avoid Ford, Vauxhall and other high volume manufacturers, I like having titles........... they may not define your inner self or others may not be impressed but without our labels what are we ?

As you get older your status in Society changes, I still don’t like having to tick the box that says “Widower” on forms. I quite like my free bus pass, but still think the bus is full of old people and I don’t see myself like them. My delusion I know. 

I dread the day when I am no longer active mentally or physically, but especially mentally, enough to have positions of influence, that’s when I will know its time to go..........but maybe not just yet .............but its still good to think about these things and prepare. 

I have time and freedom, sufficient money not to worry too much about spending it...the old saying is right you can’t take it with you, as is the one that says, its what you do with it that matters, in the bank its just numbers on a spreadsheet, but as I don’t know how long I have then planning becomes more difficult .........

So may questions, so few answers, the world is unpredictable, it always has been, so I will settle for being average, but continue to seek for success, however it is measured.