How am I?

The tagline to my blog is - a journey into what it really is that changes us, and what working as a professional youth worker can really do.

I wrote that almost 3 years ago when I decided to blog about my new job. You may know that youth work jobs are only 3 years long and therefore I'm getting ready to move on - maybe. So I obviously did bad at blogging the journey!

I've been reflecting after news of another person leaving their job, after many others recently moving on, about what difference things make. How different am I since I started this job? since I arrived at University? Since I joined exec? (maybe that's for another post!)

I often wonder what life would have been like if one thing was different, and I usually go back to the conversation on my front door step in the summer when I was 17 that made me decide to go to MYC in the first place.

This leads on to what makes me me. I'm going to a retreat in January and one thing we will do there (I'm on the planning team so I know!) is writing my life in 10 chapter titles. There are the obvious big things that made me who I am, my brother being born! spending time with relatives, moving house, becoming a ministers daughter, certain friendships I've made along the way - and the games we've played, the memories I have. The high school years, the options I took, my work experiences, the award schemes, my first boyfriend, my first kiss, the interviews for uni's, MYC and MYE, my uni friends, chaplaincy, my placements, the YPS -which did more for me personally before it even existed, Breakout, Greenbelt, competition, working in London, Matt, Aber, Nay, call to preach, living with LB, church family, MWiB. (I realise that's more than 10!)

Slight tangent warning! Then there are the things that happened - like as Vicky Beeching blogged about the internet - http://vickybeeching.com/blog/the-last-generation-who-remember-pre-internet-society/

Who would I be if none of them had happened...? maybe I'd be a better person, I'd certainly be different, I wouldn't know many of the people I do particularly if one or two were changed.

I guess this isn't Who am I? but How am I?