Be inspired
With age and experience comes understanding and wisdom. Three readers, who have all been through challenging times, reflect on the life lessons they’ve learned as a result, and what they wish they’d known earlier in their lives
‘You are more resilient than you realise’
My family moved to London from Guyana in South America when I was three, to escape political unrest. Arriving in the UK in 1963 was not easy. I didn’t look or speak like the others at my school in Ealing, and I didn’t fit in. I was shy, introverted and petrified of this strange new place. Other children never came to my house and I rarely went to theirs. I was taunted for being different.
Although my self-esteem hit rock bottom and I felt alone and friendless, I kept the hurt to myself. Ashamed, I tried to make myself invisible and didn’t tell anyone. Home should have been a refuge but, as the youngest of six, I struggled there, too. My parents had a turbulent relationship and divorced when I was 17.
Two things kept me going: I was very sporty and played hockey for my county, Middlesex; and I discovered drama in my late teens. They were real lifelines. They gave me joy, the chance to meet new people and helped my confidence grow.
I had some difficult times heading into my 20s, carrying my poor self-esteem into university, which led to me failing my first year, and then heading into an unsuitable and unhappy relationship. But it was my love of sport that changed things for me. In my mid 20s, I joined a mixed hockey club, where I met my husband, David. We married when I was 28, in 1988.
His family was close, dependable and loving, and our relationship gave me the stability to start a different kind of life, rewriting my future and leaving behind the painful experiences of my childhood.
Although I did go back to university and qualified as a solicitor, I poured my energy into creating a stable and loving upbringing for our children, Martin, now 30, and Jennifer, 25. While David travelled a lot for work, I put my career on hold, instead volunteering as a leader at Beavers and Rainbows groups, where I’d inject drama into the weekly gatherings, which the children loved.
David retired early from his job as an industrial pharmacist 14 years ago and this gave me the opportunity to make my mark. I set up a drama academy to give youngsters the self-esteem I’d lacked
