Sarah Klymkiw is working in the fashion industry at a PR and production agency. Life restored When everything starts coming together, it’s easy to become complacent but equally it’s easy and far more challenging to want to add more layers to your life. Take up a new hobby, learn new skills, meet new people and expand your social circle, visit a new country, read a challenging book.
For three years now I’ve been preoccupied with getting my career on track, for me this is the foundation for which to build the rest of my life on and around. I knew that once I was happily settled in a job I enjoyed in London I could begin to learn to enjoy my life again. No more spending evenings in front of the computer trawling job websites. Now I can start to do the things I came to London to do and start to be the person I once was pre-job hunt. Pete’s successMy live-in boyfriend was successful with cold-calling furniture companies. Not only did he speak to some interesting people and learn how they got to where they are today in the world of carpentry, therefore gaining some understanding of the industry and what would be expected, but it paid off in a way we had only hoped. He has now landed a job for a small, bespoke furniture company only a 10-minute bus ride away from our flat in Kentish Town. Perfect. Finally he is able to enjoy the recognition that comes with working for a company where workmates are minimal and impact and morale is high. For so long he’s worked as a precision engineer in a large factory where the importance of efficient production and meeting targets, that can only be performed by those with a robotic disposition, overshadows any job satisfaction, any praise and any potential for promotion. Within weeks in the new job, not only is he learning a new craft, a trade for life that could take him anywhere, but his skills from his previous work have been recognised, highly commended and talks of becoming more involved within the company have already started. Out and aboutGoing out and enjoying ourselves have now taken priority. Private views at galleries, catching up with friends and exploring new places to go out to and seeing more bands play are what drew me to this city and finally, over a year after I moved here, all bright eyed and full of hope, I’m doing them. Yes, there have been moments of being disillusioned, brief, and I cannot emphasise the brief enough, but those lonely nights when I couldn’t actually afford the bus journey to work, to a job I knew I had to do to be here and to get that much needed experience on my CV, eating cheese on toast (it was buy one get one free at Somerfield) and eyes transfixed to the computer looking for that break, for something better, a better way of life. At homeTo remove yourself from your comfort zone, from the bosom of the parental nest where the fridge is stocked up with all manner of delights from Marks and Spencers, where heating is on, where kitchens and bathrooms sparkle, is hard. Living in a shared house with people who have different values is to put yourself in a situation where your housemates' priorities won’t be to buy milk or toilet paper, or to hoover the floor or clean the bath and requires a certain diplomatic approach. Last week, our housemate of eight months has decided to move out because the rent is too much. Situations change. Yesterday our other housemate, the one who has been with me from the beginning of the houseshare broke some more news. Only three months after landing her dream job working on a picture desk of a music magazine she has decided that in September she will be going to India for three months to assist her dad in setting up a hotel there. She has decided that whilst she’s still young and able, why not? And why not? She’s achieved her goal of getting the highly coveted job she always wanted in London and it’s turned not all it’s cracked up to be. Although she has said she will want to come back to London at some point, right now, she wants to escape the rat race, unchain herself from the desk and get involved with other projects, travel a bit, maybe set up a business of her own. I am a little jealous at how courageous she’s being. We’ve spoken on a number of occasions about the future and what we’d ultimately like to achieve over a cup of herbal tea in the garden, although not that recently what with the freakish weather. She’s previously dismissed removing herself from the security of a 9 to 5, not exclusively through lack of income but it’s been a case of knowing when the time has felt right and knowing exactly what she wants from this time. And now is the time for Pete and I to address our living arrangements again, and so the endless cycle of mediocre challenges goes on until finally we’re completely settled and content. Read Sarah's earlier blogs: |
