15 years ago, I was 21, in the final year of my first uni degree, about to embark on my Honours degree, and consequently reading lots about Mark Latham. I was also listening to a lot of emo, and bemoaning being a big fish in the small pond that was the Sunshine Coast, but not quite sure how to go about that.
I moved into my apartment during the final week of 2012. Spending that week alone for the first time was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had.
I achieved a goal that I had been working towards my entire life, but also, there was this trepidation because I never thought it would actually happen.
Moving into my own apartment meant EVERYTHING. I rolled into the building that first time and cried tears of joy. Later that day I remember writing on Facebook;
‘I’m typing this in MY bedroom in MY unit in BRISBANE. A decade long quest is finally at an end.’
When I moved in 7.5 years ago, I couldn’t imagine I would be the type of person I am now. Living in my apartment has taught me independence, resilience, and what the power of freedom truly means. It allowed me to fall in love with Kat, share my life with the best person in the world, and ultimately to marry her.
If you told me this would be my life 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. Right until the time it happened, independence always seemed elusive; a foolhardy dream that everybody told me would come true, but one I always doubted. Consequently,
I immersed myself in academia, because that was the one thing I could do. The rest of it seemed too hard, too time consuming, and doomed to failure. Thankfully I was proven wrong.
In five years, I hope Kat and I will have a child. Fifteen years ago, all my life goals were about fulfilling my potential, and while I still want to do that, my primary goal now is to be happy. Perhaps that’s the biggest change I’ve personally undergone in the last 15 years.
Working at Youngcare, I appreciate how hard it was to make my dream possible. I may be biased, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more committed and hard-working group of people. I also know how important our donors are; from the regular givers such as my Aunt who sells handmade cards at her local Meals on Wheels volunteer centre, and passes on the profits to Youngcare, to our big corporate donors who support us so well. Thank you. It is a privilege and an honour to be part of the Youngcare family.
