My 7-Year Itch Needs Scratching

The seven-year itch is a psychological term that originates from the idea that happiness in a relationship declines after around seven years of marriage.  In my case (with my first marriage) this was definitely true.  I married on my 21^st birthday and by the time I was 28, I was on the way to divorce.  However, I am glad to say I didn’t get the itch the second time round (and neither has my hubby) as we are now into year 14 of our marriage (big grins).

Nowadays, the seven-year itch is not only linked with unhappy marriages but can be related to anything that has shown a decrease in happiness and satisfaction over a long period of time.

For a number of reasons, this week I have been reflecting on my life and it is clear that I’ve definitely had the bug:

21 = Married – Stay at Home Mum with 2 Children - Divorced

28 = Single Life (and another failed relationship) – College – Career Building

35 = Married Again – Moved to the UAE – Bachelor’s Degree

42 = Still Married (J), Master’s Degree, Kids Moved Out, Became a Grandparent, Moved Back to Abu Dhabi (after living in Dubai for 7 years)

49 ????

So here I am at 49 years old with only 6 months to go before I’m 50 (jesus where have the years gone?) and I've decided that it’s time for another change.  Although this decision was sparked off this week by certain events at work (won't go into that).  But I also need to practice what I preach (literally).  As a trainer I often train stress management and am always telling me learners that they need to 'take control of their lives' and in particular the Circle of Influence which comes from the highly acclaimed author and motivational speaker and his book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  

Over the past few months I had already been thinking of taking up a new hobby.   The kids are gone, work is still ridiculously busy, I'm travelling all the time but one thing I'm not doing any more is studying.  So I decided to learn to play the guitar!  God knows why, but I thought it would be:

1. Easy

2. Fun!  

Well its neither.  But I'm probably being a bit defeatist as I've only actually tried to play it (well actually tune it) about 3 times in 2 months (May be I need to give it a little more time).

But again this week events have made me reconsider my situation.  Sometimes I just get fed up of  'people'.  I certainly don't mean my family and friends (god they are my saviours most of the time), but I just mean people in general - they get on my nerves!  And sometimes I need to take a break from it all and have my own space and not have people dictating and telling me what to do!  I'm 49 for god sake not 9! (sorry going off on one now).  Anyway,  I've decided I want to take up a new hobby which will do 2 things:

1. Easy

2. Fun

3. I may (in the future) be able to make money from it

4. If No. 3 works out then I can pack my job in and work by myself and not have to deal with 'People'.

5. If No. 4 doesn't work, then no worries I'll be doing something that I enjoy.

So I'm taking up photography and I can't wait.   I've always liked taking photographs and for anyone that knows me my house is full of photos of my family and friends and I love just taking my camera and clicking away at anything and everything that fascinates me.  I did sign up for an on-line photography programme a year ago but tbh it was boring and for me not very practical.  Therefore, I've registered myself on a beginners photography course with Gulf Photo Plus and have bought myself a brand new Nikon D3200 digital camera which I'm dying to start using.

Over the next few weeks, I'm travelling to Sri Lanka, Saudia Arabia and Australia so I'm sure I'll get some amazing pics and this is why I wanted to do it right by registering with a photography class and learning how to take the pictures properly.  

I'lll be sharing some of my pics on here and of course I have an Instagram page and now I'm on Twitter  @mandybillany (lol, still trying to work that one out).  So, let's see how it goes, wish me good luck.