Coincidences

Coincidence is a strange thing. Sometimes we don’t realise it until later in life.

Think about how you got into your current job, or how you met your current/past partner.

After turning thirty at the start of this year, I have begun to look back on the life decisions and outcomes that have lead me to where I am today.

Growing up, I was never the type to think much about the future. “Whatever happens will happen” was my outlook.

Living in a small town near Newcastle, northern England with my Mum and sister, I looked at life as a day-by-day occurrence.

I had a few odd minimum wage jobs in hospitality and administration that got me by. I’m sure my family and friends were tired of hearing me complain about how mundane it all was.

Meanwhile, I was doing nothing much to change my environment or myself, basically going nowhere fast.

When a family friend asked me to come and work for his company I was nervous about such a change but said yes, rationalising that anything would be better than working in a dull, quiet café.

His company was based in a large psychiatric hospital, which carried out maintenance jobs for the building. Being a shy, quiet eighteen year old girl, working in what is ultimately seen as a ‘man’s job’ was quite daunting. There were a lot of strange looks and openly sexist comments.

I took the bad with the good, learning everything from how to pick locks to how to lay roof tiles. Some days I felt like a part of the team. Others I felt like I was only there to pass tools to the men around me.

There were a few memorable mishaps, like the day that I forgot to cover the smoke detector in a room, before drilling a hole in the wall, causing dust to set off the fire alarm for the whole hospital. Or the time I was forcibly thrown into a cupboard for my own safety when a patient became extremely physically aggressive towards the nurses. After ten minutes of quiet knocking, I was heard and let out.

I enjoyed learning new things but what I discovered was that I was the most engaged when I was working in the hospital wards. It was the patients that intrigued me. Something had finally sparked my interest.

After one year working at the hospital, I was made redundant due to budget cuts. I went back to the familiar scenery of a café and right back to the same mindset of one day at a time, without looking ahead.

Then one day, while waiting for a bus, something happened. A man fell to the floor and started to have seizure. No one around, including me, had any idea what to do. I had never even thought of going to a first aid class.

Someone called for an ambulance, while the rest of us looked at one another in horror, having no clue what to do to help this poor man.

Paramedics arrived and took the man into an ambulance. The feeling of being so helpless in a medical situation like that stuck with me for a long time. I wanted to be able to help people.

A few months after my twentieth birthday, I received a message on MySpace, the popular social media platform at the time.

It was from an Australian woman who was travelling through the UK with two friends. She had accidentally searched for people in the whole of England, rather than just the South. She was looking for advice about the best places to visit in Brighton.

I was living at the other end of the country and had never been further south than London.

I sent a polite message back, explaining that I couldn’t really help with that but I knew of some great places further north.

We spent months messaging each other, then finally exchanged numbers and text and called each other constantly.

Eventually we met up and had the best first date along Brighton pier. From then on we were nearly inseparable. Then one day she sat me down and explained that her visa would be expiring soon and asked me if I would like to go back to Australia with her.

An absolute yes was the answer and for the next five months I saved and made arrangements to move my entire life to Australia for a year.

Almost instantly I fell in love with Australia. I loved the people, the culture and the weather. Yes, I was homesick at times and I missed my family but my partner’s family were the most welcoming people I had ever met.

We continued to travel when we could. We walked along the steps of the Sydney Opera House, snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef and went camping on Fraser Island.

I fell into retail and found that I enjoyed it but there was always something in the back of my mind, saying that there was something else for me.

I don’t remember the exact moment that it hit me, but suddenly I realised that I was supposed to be in the health care industry. A nurse, I thought.

Pouring over university websites, I made a plan to save some money and begin my journey to becoming someone that could help people in their time of need.

I was still in Australia on a temporary partner visa, so couldn’t yet study unless I paid international student fees, which were costly.

I kept working, kept saving and kept dreaming of studying.

When my partner was offered a promotion that involved a move from Brisbane to Melbourne, we were both excited.

I packed up my life for a second time and, together, we made the nineteen-hour drive to the unknown.

We lived in a small, but quirky, two-bedroom apartment near the city and I started studying.

I loved everything about it. The classroom environment, the lectures and even the placements.

I worked hard, attending classes four to five days a week, completing essays, assignments and exams and working every weekend to pay the rent.

When the class of 2015 had graduated, I received a transcript of my results. Out of the twenty-five subjects I had received twenty-three high distinctions and two distinctions.

I couldn’t have been more proud and I was ready to enter the nursing world and get my career in healthcare started.

Fast-forward three years and I am now a proud home owner. I live with my partner of now ten years and the border collie I always wanted.

I have been working as a nurse in aged care since graduating and moving back to Brisbane. I dabbled in nursing on a medical/surgical unit and, although it ultimately wasn’t for me, I picked up a lot of clinical skills along the way.

I have made meaningful connections and learned a lot from some of the people I have cared for while working in aged care but I know that something else is waiting for me out there. There’s another section of nursing for me to delve into and learn from.

There have been a few occasions when someone has been hurt or injured in public and I have been, not only able, but confident in helping them.

I think back often to the coincidences that have lead me here. Where would I be if I had never met my wonderful Aussie partner, or realised my dream job?

Whatever the answer, I am so glad for these happy coincidences and wouldn’t change a thing.