A wonderful stroke of luck

There is an expression attributed to the Dalai Lama that 'sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck'. Now this concept at first seems counter-intuitive, but I have found throughout my life that it really does hold true, perhaps not at the moment of disappointment, but once I have had the time to reflect back and realise that one closed door led to a new opportunity or more enriching experience. As we start to come out of this unprecedented time in human history, I think its even more important to keep perspective and look for the positives, as difficult as they may be to find. I have also had time to think during this time of enforced isolation about a huge disappointment I experienced recently and try to make better sense of it.

As many of you know I accepted a job in the Cayman Islands last summer, and was incredibly excited about this opportunity. Indeed it was the realisation of a long-held dream to relocate to the island, and I invested a lot of time and energy to make the move. Now, as many of you also know I came back much earlier than expected (within a month), and although island life was just what I had dreamt it would be, the role transpired to not be what I had expected it to be.

As you can imagine at the time I didn't see this as a positive and indeed I went through a lot of soul-searching as I returned to the UK in the middle of winter wondering what had happened and trying to decide what I did next. I certainly didn't see this as a wonderful stroke of luck as I do now.

By coming back to the UK, I was offered a role at the City of London Corporation, working towards COP26 and being at the heart of the climate crisis conversations and green finance solutions and hopefully being able to do my part to help make changes that have an impact.

I also realised that the time and effort I had dedicated, in the lead up to the big move to Grand Cayman, in order to foster local knowledge and connections, would not go wasted. Indeed I have made some incredible connections on both a professional and personal level, and my commitment to the island, indeed my personal passion to supporting island states in their quest for climate solutions and raising awareness of issues they face, has not wavered.

The impacts of global warming and plastic pollution is increasingly being experienced by all of us, however small island states are often at the forefront of the impact of this crisis and this is exacerbated because of their size and exposure. So I was thrilled to be asked to be an honourary ambassador for the Island Innovation Virtual Island Summit 2020 for both the UK and Cayman Islands and look forward to sharing insights and updates over the next few months in the run up to the September summit.

Whilst I haven't given up on my island dream forever, I have realised that right now, I am exactly where I need to be.