Never Too Late

If you’ve read the news recently about the beautician turned barrister, you’ll know that Georgina Blackwell was working as a beautician until she successfully represented her mother in a property development case without any prior law experience. Her case attracted media attention, her story was noticed, and she was offered a scholarship to study law at a London college. Miss Blackwell has just been awarded a first in her degree.

Reading about Miss Blackwell’s story, I can’t help but think of all those dream careers I had as a young child, or even as a teenager, that never came to fruition. I wanted to be a ballerina, then an actress, then a marine biologist. Over time life pulled me down different paths, my circumstances sometimes determined my career choices, and my interests and goals changed. I’m not sad over it. I’m very happy with what I’m doing in my career these days. But I occasionally stop and wonder, “what if?”.

I can only assume that there are many of you out there who perhaps also had similar career dreams that for one reason or another were swept aside by life’s ever-changing journey. Perhaps you also occasionally wonder “what if?”. People always say “it’s never too late” – that old cliche that we hate to hear because it means there is a potential opportunity that we’re not sure we can be bothered to chase after. But if you look at Miss Blackwell’s story, she demonstrates that the old cliché is true: that with hard work and determination, a little risk mixed with moxie, that dream career can be yours.