How a Good Thing Happening in a Bookshop Took Me Down Memory Lane
A Case Study: A memory gave me insight into how I got to where I am in my WorkLife and inspiration in knowing I’m at the right place – the place my WorkLife journey was meant to take me to.
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We didn’t have a bookshop in the village I grew up in, but we did have a revolving bookstand in one of our local stores. It was an everything kind of store – from groceries to hardware, from toys to clothing. My childhood memories are of it being a treasure trove – you really could find anything there. My earliest memory, at seven years old, was of it being a magical place of discovery.
The most magical discovery for me was the revolving bookstand, nestled between pots of paint and freshly laid duck eggs.
It was there I discovered Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Secret Seven and Malory Towers book series. I’d while away the time waiting for my mum to do her shopping, avidly reading the back covers, deciding which would be my next purchase – for when I’d saved enough money to buy it.
I don’t remember how much each book cost, but I do remember it took me weeks to save for the next one. That wait somehow made each book even more valuable. I can still remember the excitement I felt when I had enough money to buy my next book; running down the hill to the store; re-reading the back covers of all the books to make sure the book I’d already painstakingly decided on was really the best choice; running up the hill back home; disappearing into my bedroom with excited anticipation of the new adventure I was about to be taken on, the magical world I was about to be transported to.
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I sometimes hear people asking the question:
- How did who you were as a seven-year-old shape what you did with your life?
I could never answer that question. As a seven-year-old, I was just a regular child, doing what regular children do. Life was good, and I was happy. But there was nothing about anything I did at seven years old that shaped what I did with my life, so I always thought that question is not relevant to me.
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I fell into my job in High Street Banking a few years after leaving school. Then in my 30’s, when I moved to London, I fell into a job in Investment Banking. I always enjoyed my work, but it was just that – work. It afforded me a good lifestyle and allowed me to embrace my love of travel. But I wasn’t passionate about it, nor did it give me a sense of purpose. But I was OK with that, and I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. I worked with good people in good environments. Life was good, and I was happy.
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It wasn’t until my 40’s that I discovered my WorkLife purpose and passion.
Because of an economic downturn, my banking role was made redundant. While I was figuring out what I was going to do next, and what my continuing WorkLife story was going to be, my friend Pauline asked me to deliver the job search element workshop of a programme she was running to help people launch their WorkLife in Logistics. I had no experience in creating and delivering workshop learning programmes, but Pauline persuaded me all I needed was a common sense approach. I was curious, and so I said yes.
This was the early days of the Internet, so I couldn’t find what I needed online. Instead, I went to my nearest bookshop and bought enough books to develop a year-long course (a tad excessive for the two days required!). Then set to work learning what I needed to know.
The people attending the workshop had also been impacted by the economic downturn. They, too, had lost their jobs. They were also figuring out what their continuing WorkLife story was going to be and were having to reinvent themselves to get back into the workplace.
Having developed a two-day workshop which focussed on the elements of the job search programme, when I turned up to deliver it, I discovered before we could get to that, I needed somehow to help restore people’s confidence and self-esteem, which had been crushed when through no fault of their own their jobs and livelihoods had been taken from them.
I asked them about things they’d achieved in their WorkLives that they felt good about. As each person began talking and their story unfolded, we all sat back in awe as we listened to one amazing story after another.
Although I’d never run a workshop learning programme before, I somehow knew that the key to help people regain their confidence and self-esteem was to ask them to talk about their achievements – in essence, to tell their WorkLife stories.
I remember writing down their stories as I journeyed home. I had experienced a magical moment. I had been transported along their journey through their amazing WorkLife stories. I didn’t know what this meant at the time. I just knew I needed to capture it – so I wrote down their stories.
What I did know, though, through the journeys they had taken me on, was the answer to the question I was trying to figure out:
What do I want my continuing WorkLife story to be?
The stories I’d heard and the workshop experience allowed me to know I wanted to help people manage, develop and transition their WorkLife.
I didn’t know how I was going to do this. I thought curiosity would help me figure that out.
Because saying yes to something, I was curious about when my friend Pauline had asked me to deliver the workshop when I was trying to figure out what I wanted my continuing WorkLife to be, had helped me do just that, or rather it got me to the first chapter. I both discovered and wrote the continuing chapters as I embarked on my journey, letting curiosity be my driving force.
One Chapter Leads to Another – a Whirlwind Journey Through the Chapters of my Continuing WorkLife Story That My Curiosity Lead Me To:
Chapter 1: Developing and Delivering my First Workshop
Chapter 2: Undertaking a Degree in Career Coaching and Management
Chapter 3: Joining a Career Consultancy Agency as a Career Coach and Workshop Facilitator
Chapter 4: Undertaking Studies in Performing Arts
Chapter 5: Launching my Own Business as a Freelance WorkLife Learning Practitioner
Chapter 6: Becoming a Writer, telling people’s powerful stories about their WorkLife struggles and successes.
Chapter 7: Becoming an Author, Publishing Your WorkLife Your Way, The School of WorkLife Book Series, WorkLife Book Club and Learn Through Reading Series of Case Studies.
My WorkLife Story continues. I’m already working on my next chapter …
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I’d been a collector of stories ever since that first workshop. My profession allowed me to immerse myself in the world of people’s learning, and I got to participate in their WorkLife journeys. Journeys from places of exploration and discovery. I continue to learn through the amazing WorkLife stories of the people I work with, from whom I draw inspiration daily.
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But as I sit here and write this story, I realise my love of stories goes back even further than that. It actually goes back to my seven-year-old self, back to those magical moments of discovery that had begun on a revolving bookstand nestled in the treasure trove of my local store. Those magical moments of discovery were the beginning of the many adventures I’ve been taken on through the magic of books and the power of stories.
Because a prerequisite of being a writer is being an avid reader, and that’s something that began at the age of seven.
So, now when I think of the question: “How did who you were as a seven-year-old shape what you did with your life?” I think it is relevant to me.
It was relevant as a banker because my work enabled me to embrace my love of travel and adventure – a love that had come from the books I’d read.
It was relevant to me when I developed that first workshop because I learnt everything I needed to know from the books I picked up at the bookshop.
It has been relevant to me throughout my education in my new profession and in launching my business – reading has always been my go-to place for learning.
And it is relevant to me as a writer because reading is an important part of my craft as a writer.
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I leave you with three questions to ponder upon:
1. How did who you were as a seven-year-old shape what you did with your life?
2. What is something you’ve achieved in your WorkLife that you feel good about?
3. Do you have a memory of something good happening in a bookshop?
And also a mission, should you choose to accept it … Or an assignment, actually.
Take one, two or all three of the questions and write down your answer/s. Write down that part of your story – that chapter of your continuous WorkLife story.
Why? Because there’s magic in writing, there’s magic in telling your story.
It helps to bring up answers to something you may or may not know you were seeking answers on – as it did for me, in making sense of how who I was as a seven-year-old shaped what I did with my life.
It helps to regain confidence and self-esteem at times in your WorkLife when you’re crushed through no fault of your own.
… But, before you take on the assignment, I want to add a twist.
Why?
Because twists help you to be a better storyteller.
Let me explain.
When I began writing this story, all I had was a headline I liked: Good Things Happen In Bookshops – it was actually a quote written on a board outside a bookshop in London. Of course, it caused me to walk through the door, to browse the shelves. But then something a little surreal happened. As I walked around, I began to notice revolving stands located at different places throughout the shop. In that moment, I was right back in the local store of my childhood, reminiscing about the treasure trove that had been my magical place of discovery.
I was in a little bit of a daze, and I don’t remember much else other than writing down the headline/quote that had drawn me into the store. I’m a collector of headlines, and quotes, too. It comes from being a collector of stories, I think. I didn’t know where the headline/quote was going to take me. I just knew I really liked it. I knew it would somehow allow me to tell my story. I didn’t know what story it was going to be. I didn’t know where it was going to take me as the writer or you as the reader of the story. All I knew was that it was a headline/quote that would allow me to explore and discover what I needed along the way.
… And here comes the twist in your assignment:
Take a headline/quote you like and answer the question/s in relation to that. Adapt it however you want to – as I did in my headline – which became my subheading. The great thing about headlines/quotes that you like is that they allow you to tell your story or a part of your story, and that’s important because it helps you to tell the chapters of your Continuous WorkLife Story.
And that’s really important because, throughout your WorkLife, you’ll be expected to tell your story or a part of your story: In day-to-day conversations, at interviews, in giving presentations or talks, in networking situations, in social settings; and so on, and so on.
Taking a headline/quote and developing it into a story that tells where you came from and how you got to where you need to be, is a good skill to develop to enable you to have the perfect story to tell for whatever WorkLife situation required. Because it gives you, the storyteller, the insight and inspiration to craft a story that tells your audience who you are and what you’re about. by taking them on a journey through the magical moments of your WorkLife.
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Postscript
This story was originally published on 4/4/21. I needed to republish it to add updates and also to tell you
… The continuing story …
The pandemic brought about a change in my WorkLife from delivering in-person individual coaching sessions and group workshops to creating resources to help people self direct their WorkLife learning.
In the last three years, I’ve published 30 books and over 200 stories.
Each book and each story is based on real life struggles and successes that people have encountered in their WorkLife. They also detail the exercises that helped navigate through these situations, which are set as assignments for readers to adapt to their WorkLife situations and learning needs.
I believe stories are a powerful mechanism for teaching, a powerful medium to learn through, and a powerful way to communicate who you are and what you stand for.
My inspiration for creating my work comes from a lifelong passion for learning. My work has taught me that the one thing in life that can never be taken away from you is your learning.
School of WorkLife Guiding Statement: To create resources that are helpful, insightful and inspiring in helping people to pursue their WorkLives with greater clarity, purpose, passion and pride by creating continuous WorkLife learning programmes and resources that are accessible to everyone.
The resources I create will help you take ownership of self directing your learning in your own space and in your own time.
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School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
Resources to Help You Self-Direct Your Learning
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
How To Let Curiosity Be Your Driving Force
How To Build Your WorkLife Around What Engages and Inspires You
How To Turn Your Story Into a Powerful Presentation
Tap The School of WorkLife Book Series to view the complete collection of books. From here, you can tap on each individual title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
Carmel O’ Reilly is a learning practitioner and writer. She creates resources to help people self-direct their WorkLife learning. These include a Collection of Books which originated from her first book, Your WorkLife Your Way and a Learn Through Reading Series of Case Studies. which originated from her latest book WorkLife Book Club.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers). It helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.