Changing Your Universe

Here on Changing Your Universe, we chat about experiences where someone or something influenced the direction your life took or just made a difference in your life.

Today, my Crescent Moon Press author and colleague, Joanne Brothwell is here, sharing her Changing Your Universe experience with us.

Changing My Universe                              

By Joanne Brothwell

Gandalf

I would have to say that the day I started my current job as a therapist my life irreversibly changed. That day was just over four years ago, after leaving a job I’d been too comfortable in for eight years. I was afraid to leave the comfort zone of that old job; the familiarity and predictability its main advantages. But challenging ourselves in life is an absolute necessity if we want to continue to grow as people, and I had to accept the fact that I needed to move on.

That first day I was terrified and nervous. What will people think of me? Will everyone be stuffy and boring and not like me for the quirky person I am? After about a month, I knew. These were fabulous people, and I was going to fit in just fine.

The life-altering enlightenment started when I began to work with the man who hired me into the position. I came to think of him as Gandalf, not because of how he looked, but because he was a wizard with clients and could always make miraculous things happen in session. It was his last year before retirement, and he generously took me under his wing, helping me to blossom as a therapist and gain confidence in myself and my skills.

It was an intense year, one of both personal and professional growth. At the end of it, I’d changed. I was more self-aware, I was more focused. And I had one thing that I’d always lacked up until that point: clarity.

One month after Gandalf’s retirement I began to write with the intention to complete a novel. Coincidence? I think not. It was because of my clarity of thought that I was able to really look inside myself and see that I had a passion for storytelling, the confidence in myself to try and the wherewithal to act on it.

So, thank you, Gandalf, for your mentorship, your support and your guidance; for without you, there may never have been a book called Stealing Breath.