early years 1980's

Reflection

Those early 1980s. Teachers college that didn’t quite fit, odd jobs, Mister Minit, mineral exploration, The Overland, Melbourne, back to Adelaide, marriage at twenty-one and finally welfare studies. Little felt especially coherent at the time. It was just life as it came. But looking back, you can see the rough outline of a direction starting to form, even if I didn’t recognise it then.

Looking Back at the Moves

I realise now that all the moving around taught me flexibility long before I understood what that meant. Turning up somewhere new, not knowing the rules and having to watch and learn that became normal. At the time, I just thought I was getting through school and days and jobs. But what I was actually learning was how to land on my feet, slowly.

There were gaps, of course. Not having history with people. Always a step outside the inner circle. But I also learned how to read or avoid situations and when to stay quiet. Skills that proved useful later in work, in remote communities and eventually in life.

What Stayed With Me

Some things faded. The anxiety of fitting in never really did just well masked. Trying to keep up with what I didn’t understand. Those feelings don’t carry the same weight now.

But other pieces stayed:
A love of movement such as trains, roads and the sense of going somewhere.
A connection to people on the margins.
The understanding that belonging can come from unexpected places. A sport, a job, a shared joke, a chance conversation at school

If anything, those years taught me that you can find a "place" even if you never feel completely settled.

The Good Foundations

I often think about how lucky I was. Good parents. A stable home, even if the surroundings changed. A sense of security underneath the uncertainty.

Because of that stability, I could see when others didn’t have it. Maybe that’s the thread that pulled me into the work I chose, recognising the quiet struggles in people.

In hindsight, those early experiences shaped me more than I realised. They helped me find a career, a life and a way of showing up for others that has served me well though sometimes eventually to my detriment.

I was there, but always halfway to somewhere else

Not unsettled — just moving

Those years taught me how to land on my feet, even when I didn’t know where I’d be next