This weekend I went for a walk with my friend to a place called Jupiter Artland on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It is a funky fun place where sculptures and art are outside and you can walk round and enjoy. It takes a few hours to follow the paths and armed with a map you can look up the sculptures and art pieces you come upon, finding out more about them and their creators.
I am not an arty person and nor is my friend. Whilst we understand the concept, a lot of it was lost on us. However, for those who are, what a magical place to be.
One of our favourite sculptures was the grassy hills where you could walk round and up to the top and back down. It was beautiful. As we are coming out of autumn there weren’t too many visitors, so we managed to get some good photos with no-one else around as well as enjoy a walk without it being crowded.
Whilst the art was lost on us, and it was not what we were expecting – not sure what we were – it was a lovely place to be able to walk round and enjoy being outdoors and in nature. It was impressive to see the sculptures, as they were all so very different, from large sky high size to smaller size. There is a lot to see if art is your thing. And even if it isn’t, you will still get a lot out of going, a unique experience for sure.
Have you ever been somewhere or started something only for it to turn out not quite to be as expected? It may not necessarily be a bad experience, just surprising or different. Or taking it further, started a job, or a course and realised, this isn’t for you and is far from what you expected?
Whilst we will likely be disappointed as all our hopes or dreams have been put into doing this job or this course, there will always be a positive outcome.
Think about it. The job you took, was not as described at the interview or the people were horrible, or the commute was worse than you ever imagined. Once you realise this and know this is not somewhere you want to stay, you will begin to take steps to find something else. You will likely do more research upon the places you are applying, seek recommendations from people in your network or from online reviews.
You will know the questions to ask at interview to find out about the culture or the people, or how the team works, maybe you dig deeper with the role and find out about what a typical day looks like and how this matches in with the job description.
If you chose a course at university or college that didn’t live up to your expectations, what part of it wasn’t matching? It could be you love the university but dislike the course. You know what you don’t like so you can find the course that perhaps is in a similar line to what you are doing, but more suited to your end goal. Maybe your end goal has now changed or you are adapting what you initially thought to something similar,
Every day we encounter situations that perhaps haven’t lived up to our expectations. It is not necessarily anyone’s fault, but a misalign with what we thought we were getting or going to do to what the actual reality is.
It is all about finding out about you – what do you want and what do you not want and are your expectations realistic? Often being in this situation shows us what we truly want. It might be a heck of a journey to find out that becoming an architect isn’t for you, but being an artist is. Or joining an all singing and dancing large corporation with fantastic benefits is great however, it doesn’t outweigh the impersonal or loneliness you feel whilst doing the job and the role and company you were in previously were actually pretty good.
Despite having to go through a bit of pain or challenge to discover what you don’t like, you will usually find what you do like and be much happier for it. It may not be quick but you will know what you need to do to get there such as waiting until the following year before enrolling on a different course at university or applying for roles in the area you want to work in.
No matter what you are experiencing in life, if it is not going according to plan, do not worry, take a step back and look at where you want to be and plan steps to get there.
Thank you for reading, have a lovely week and don’t let an unexpected outcome ruin your day. Pause and plan a new path.
Look after you! Love Emma xx
Wellbeing with Relaxing Lavender 