I have spent the morning ordering a bound version of my thesis and organising my academic gown. The puffy hat will finally be mine!

Last Monday, I received advice that I had fulfilled the academic requirements for my PhD and that conferral would occur on the 31st of July. As I read the letter, I had a feeling of joy and my favourite person one of relief!

It is the culmination of the first chapter of the journey thatI entitled “What’s Next” when I started this blog. It’s a theme I have returned to since, as a fifty-something, I contemplated retirement from the professional firm I had been privileged to have been a partner for more than 20 years. With the completion of my PhD, I feel that the transition is complete, and a new chapter of What’s Next will begin.

When I commenced the journey with the assistance of Michael and Tim, I had no idea where it would take me. Through many conversations with Michael and Tim and the benefit of Hermina Ibarra’s book “Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career”, I am now just over 7 years into that journey.

Across that time, my favourite person and I have been lucky enough to travel to Italy several times; I have seen my first EPL game live and walked the beautiful beaches on the Isle of Sandy in the Orkney Islands. Other highlights have been attending my first large academic conference and becoming a published academic author. Across that period, there has been the joy of two of my children marrying, the arrival of three wonderful grandchildren and my youngest daughter’s graduations.

So “What’s next”?

It won’t be the academic career I contemplated as I started this journey. It will include time with grandchildren that I hadn’t imagined would be part of the journey when I started. It will include a continuation of consulting, but only to businesses that I enjoy being associated with. Life is too short for working with people whose company you don’t enjoy.

I want to continue exploring Australia’s wine regions and as the Covid cloud lifts wine regions in Europe. We have a trip planned for the Coonawarra in a few months, and I would like to spend some time in the Riverland.

I’m loking forward to taking some of the ideas from my thesis and publishing from them. I’m looking forward to catching up on an endless number of TV programs I haven’t had time to watch and spending more time at the park with our grandchildren.

After that I”m not sure “What’s next”.

Photo Source: https://www.blashki.com.au/