Monday, 16 January 2017

Making 2017 My Year - The Strong Start

Image: www.dumpaday.com


2016 was a wonderful year in many ways, but in other ways it was a bit of a bust! I left my bakery job before my birthday in March, went off on holidays with Dex, and came back to face unemployed life. I did get a job pretty soon after we came back, but it was obvious that I wasn't good at the job, so a couple months later, we parted ways. When I left that job, I gave serious time and thought to the idea of going back to college.

The thing is, I have many many areas of interest, and a whole plethora of things I want to do in my life. Just for the hell of it, I'll give you a few of the stand out things I'd love to try my hand at:


  • Chocolatier, 
  • Optician,
  • Combine Harvester Operator (I know!!) 
  • Model
  • Radio Host,
  • Writer, (This one, I hope to achieve one day)
  • Chiropractor 
  • Personal Assistant, 
  • Lyons Tea Taste Tester (Dreaming big, yeah, that's me!!)
I really only gave one or two of these options a real chance, and optometry was a high contender until I realized I would need to take Leaving Cert Physics. There would be a better chance of getting me to sit for a blood test than getting me to sit another leaving cert paper!! 

I decided to look around for some other options. I had seen a good while back on my OG blogging buddy Kayliegh's blog Kayliegh Land that she had gone back to college through a local governing body and that seemed to be a cool option, because she's been retraining into Accountancy if I remember rightly. 



If any of my readers are unemployed, you may have heard of Springboard, an initiative to retrain and upskill people who are currently out of work. I was mooching around online on St Stephens Day and I stumbled on the Springboard website, so I signed up, and I decided to see what was on offer. Next thing I know, I'm filling in an application for a Digital Marketing course in Dublin Business School (DBS). I thought I'd never hear anything back but lo and behold the first Monday of the 2017, I got a call from the Admissions Officer asking for some transcripts and documents, I went off to meet the head of the Digital Marketing Department in the college a week later, and next thing I know, I'm in! 

The most nerve wracking thing for me about the whole thing was the meeting. I'm a nervous chatterbox, and I was terrified, but when I sat down with the Dept Head, I was absolutely at ease. We talked for a while, and by the end of it she had told me on no uncertain terms that I was going to be recommended for a place in the course, shook my hand and bid me farewell. Poor ol' Dex came with me and he had to endure my excited, completely awestruck ramblings for the following few hours over dinner, and take a call in his work when I got the acceptance, but he was a trooper.

Image: www.zerodean.com

I had already decided on New Years Eve that I was going to make 2017 MY year, that I was going to do whatever it took to bring myself closer to the dream. When I applied for the course in DBS, I had made a positive move in the right direction, but if it hadn't have worked out in my favor, I just would have kept of trying. Getting a place in this intensely competitive course is just the beginning though, next thing I need to start looking for is a suitable internship and start taking steps towards a future in this industry. 



I'm only 16 days into 2017 as I write this, and I'm already so excited for the year to come. I'm so pumped to get started with my course, it's given me a new focus and a new drive to succeed that I haven't had since I first went into the bakery. 

All in all, 2017 is shaping up to be pretty great already, I'm ready to smash it!!

Amy
xo