As this year draws to a close...

The festive period for a lot of people offers a time of reflection, the chance to look back at the year and everything in it and quite often leaves you wondering just what you have done for the past 365 days.

Its a scary prospect really to think another year has gone so quickly, especially when times are hard and from personal experience, not having a job offers a much more unkind and dark slant.

But now having experience as a fully employed member of society with maybe, just maybe, a chance of brighter things and as someone for a long time without that sense of purpose I think the most important lesson is that it is always the richness of character of the people around us and not monetary wealth that defines every day life.

There is no substitute for a laugh shared, the feeling of supporting others or in turn being supported during hared times. As someone who has an opportunity to start building a career after 5 years in the cold it has been the quality of the company that I have had that has gotten me this far.

I include present company in that, writing online has been therapeutic for a person cut off from society for a long time, someone who worried that they would never return back to fully functional. It is that kindness and understanding that I want to bring into my working life, that I'm hopeful will define the year ahead and it is one debt that I very much look forward to paying.(as opposed to those spongers at Student Loan Company who took the princely sum of £12 from my paycheck ) I have the opportunity to help others (in one sense) in my line of work, which has afforded me a great deal of job satisfaction.

With all that said I wish you all the very best wishes for the coming year.