IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL ITS DONE...
When i left high school at the tender age of 17, i had absolutely no idea what i wanted to do with my life (the same as most people my age) . It wasn't until the very last week of high school that anything even came to mind. I was about to graduate, had completed all of my exams and was in the process of building a bonfire to burn everything i owned that had any attachment to school life as i knew it when i was approached by one of my Career Education teachers about a job position he had heard of that he thought suited me perfectly.
I was always artistic in high school and loved anything to do with photography, design and screen printing so i could never really see myself sitting behind a desk all day and inputting numbers into a system for shit i did not understand nor care about. i had no intention of going to uni at this point or really staying in collie much longer than i had to as i knew there was more to offer out there and i was already itching to see it all! Although with no money, no job and no qualifications i knew i had to think about it a little bit before i packed my suitcase and bailed from my small home town.
So when the opportunity came up to apply for a trainee ship at the local florist i jumped on the opportunity. A creative avenue to express myself and earn money at the same time? Why the fuck not i thought!!
Little did i know it was going to be two of the most hectic and difficult two years of my life. I wont go into too much detail of my study life as it will probably bore the hell out of you but i will honestly tell you that these times tested me, pushed me to near on absolute breaking point and made me reconsider everything id thought i was going to do with my life and then made me think about what i needed to change to be able to grow as a person.
The first person i will mention is my tafe lecturer and first main point of introduction to the life of floral design. Eileen Wenn, was a very inspiring person to learn from and i will forever be grateful for everything she taught me and all of the time she invested into her students.
The second person i would like to mention is Kiri Obrien. As my first floral design employer she had a massive impact on my life and my career. She pushed me when i had no self confidence to do so myself, taught me to think outside the box and made me realise that if i want anything in life that the only person who was going to help me get it is me! So i thank her for that!
My parents stood by my side as well and although could offer no artistic advice (apparently i got all of the artistic genes in our immediate family) they still helped me keep my head on my shoulders and stay somewhat sane at the same time, of course ending up with a few more grey hairs than before....
There are so many other people i wish to mention but i would be here forever and will touch on those people in future posts in more detail. Through the hard work i put into becoming a qualified florist i made myself a better person and found my passion at the same time.
So with this said- Don`t ever settle for what they tell you in school, you don`t need to make up your mind at once, you do not have to know what you want to do when you leave school or even 10 years down the track for that matter. Fuck what they try to drill into your head, I was pretty lucky in this case but it sure as hell didn't make it any easier for me and there is always time to change down the track. I studied with ladies my age and ladies much older as well but we were all there for the same thing and thats what made it possible.
Trust your gut instinct and go for your life, do what ever you want as long as it makes you push yourself and work hard to achieve your goals because as the title of this post suggests : IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL ITS DONE
