This one is very easy to answer.

In fact, I reckon I could probably give you two answers. Funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it?

Around twenty years ago, I started writing poetry.

Well, poetry is probably what we’ll call it. Back then, I referred to them as my scribbles, and if I’m honest, that’s still a pretty good description of some of them.

I didn’t start writing because I wanted to be a poet. I wasn’t dreaming of seeing my name in magazines, winning awards, or having people read my words.

Nope.

I started writing because I needed to get the stuff in my head out of it.

My mental health was in a pretty rough place, and I needed a way to process the thoughts, emotions, and general chaos that I was struggling to make sense of. Writing became a form of therapy, a pressure valve, and eventually a way of understanding myself a little better.

It was never about being good enough for anyone else.

It was about trying to be okay.

As I kept writing, something unexpected happened. People started taking an interest in my words. I wrote a poem for a family member’s naming ceremony, and people began asking where I’d got it from.

When I told them I’d written it myself, they seemed rather surprised.

Truth be told, so was I!

Perhaps there was something in this poetry malarkey after all.

Fast-forward twenty years, and I’ve had my work published in magazines and books, written six books of my own, and even picked up awards for my poetry.

For a bloke who started writing just to try and keep his head above water never imagined that his words would find their way into print, let alone receive recognition.

I certainly didn’t set out with any of that in mind.

I was just trying to make sense of life, one scribble at a time.

And yet, somewhere along the way, those scribbles became something more.

They became my voice.

Then there’s the camera…

The second answer would obviously be photography.

I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures, but it was never something I thought of as a talent. When I got my first camera phone, I started snapping away at whatever caught my eye.

A bird. A landscape. Something interesting on a walk. Whatever took my fancy, really.

I wasn’t following some grand artistic vision. I wasn’t studying photography or worrying about aperture, shutter speeds, focal lengths, or any of those other technical things that proper photographers seem to know about.

I just liked taking pictures.

Still do, actually.

The difference is that people started noticing them.

Some of my photographs have been shared by local news outlets, which is something I certainly never expected when I first started pointing a phone at things and pressing a button.

And then there was the opportunity to photograph an event featuring Howard Jones.

Yes, THAT Howard Jones!

Genuine 80s pop royalty.

If you’d told me years ago that one day I’d be taking photographs at an event with someone whose music helped soundtrack an era, I’d probably have looked at you as though you’d been at the cooking sherry.

But it happened.

And that’s the thing about life. Sometimes you stumble into opportunities that you never even knew were possible, simply because you followed something you enjoyed.

No master plan. No five-year strategy. No carefully mapped-out career.

Just a bloke with a camera, taking pictures of things that caught his eye.

So what have I learned

I suppose the biggest lesson is that you don’t always need to know where something is going before you start.

Sometimes, you just need to begin.

You don’t have to be brilliant at something on day one. You don’t need qualifications, a grand ambition, or even the confidence to call yourself good at what you do.

Sometimes, you just need to give yourself permission to have a go.

For me, poetry started as a way of looking after my mental health. Photography started as a bit of fun.

Neither began with the intention of achieving anything spectacular.

And yet both have taken me places I never expected to go.

My poetry has been published, recognised, and awarded. My photographs have reached audiences I never imagined, and I’ve had opportunities that the younger version of me would probably have thought were beyond his reach.

Am I some sort of literary genius or photographic wizard?

Absolutely not.

I’m still learning. I’m still experimenting. I still write things that need a fair bit of work, and I still take photographs that don’t quite turn out the way I imagined.

But I keep going.

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last twenty years, it’s that you never really know what might come from doing something that makes you feel a little more like yourself.

Sometimes, the thing you start doing simply to survive becomes the thing that helps you thrive.

And sometimes, the hobby you pick up without a second thought turns into an opportunity you could never have dreamed of.

So, if you’re sitting there wondering whether you should give something a go, perhaps this is your nudge.

Write the poem.

Take the photograph.

Pick up the paintbrush.

Try the thing that’s been sitting at the back of your mind.

You don’t have to know where it will lead.

You just have to start.

Because twenty years ago, I was a bloke scribbling words to help make sense of his own head and taking pictures because something caught his eye.

I never imagined either would lead to the things they have.

And honestly?

I’m rather glad I gave them a go.

Stay safe.

BC