Business Skills

I had my last day of teaching on my course yesterday morning. The subject was business skills. The first section was more revision for myself and the other last student standing. We started as a group of four a few months ago and now we are just two. I knew all about basic business skills from my many days spent qualifying and practicing as a Chartered Accountant. And my other fellow trainee ran her own business for thirty odd years so she knew about business too.

The afternoon proved more interesting. We had to come up with our own business plan. This was obviously more of a theoretical exercise for me. I hadn't told my other trainee about the elephant for all these months. The studio and this course has been a place for me to be free of all that. If you don't tell people then there is no danger of this illness defining you.

Over lunch she started asking me questions about my plans. I gave my usual elusive responses around not being well and just having to see. Not sure, just focusing on the training.... And then I just decided as it was the last day to mention the c word. I didn't go into lots of detail and think she was pretty surprised. I have done really well at the training, even if I do say so myself. It's strange though. I get stuck in this mix of not wanting some people to know about the elephant because I refuse to be defined by it. I am so much more than this wretched disease. And yet I find it a huge liberating to not carry the load of the load of old nellie around with me and to sometimes just tell people.

Anyway it is now over to me to write a dissertation and shadow and run a number of classes over the summer months. Someone is on my side. I have attended every training day and now I can do the rest when I feel well enough. You see that elephant wants to get in there but I have other ideas.