Embracing the random

Rockaway Taco, A Selby Film from the selby on Vimeo. 

[Inspiration]

So I've had something of an Renaissance in terms of thinking. For so long I've been focusing on the things I'm lacking i.e. full time employment, money, my own place, the biggest quandary being 'Why am I not being hired for the jobs I want?' 
This is the wrong question to be asking as it focuses too much on external factors. What I should be asking is 'what opportunities can I seize?' 

Sometimes through embracing the random we develop and create something far surpassing our earlier expectations. Take for instance the following example. From an early age I wanted to be a vet and for several years this was my chief aim in life. I got as far as college and began to realize there was no hope in hell that I'd make the cut. Quite randomly my biology teacher at the time suggested I enter an essay competition to win a summer school place with the London Natural History Museum, to learn about conservation. Lo and behold I won a place. Random. 
The experience fueled an interest in Wildlife Conservation which led me to university, to working in Africa and exposed me to the plight of people living in poverty. Now my interests lie in sustainable development, how can we help people living in poverty whilst protecting the environment? 

So you see I'm looking at the current lack of employment as an opportunity, a sign if you will, that my attention should lie elsewhere. I began working with refugee youth because I looked outside my peripheral and saw something that I could throw my heart and soul into. Now its one of the highlights of my week. 

It got me thinking about community. Surfing got me thinking. And suddenly there was something tangible. I'm setting up a social enterprise because I need a purpose but more importantly because we should all care about our own communities. 

This is the basic premise: 

We'll take disadvantaged inner city kids (refugees, asylum seekers, delinquents and below the poverty line youth) on surf weekends in the UK. Surfing has such positive impacts not only because of the interaction with nature but in building confidence in the individual. The enterprise part of the equation will come from Birmingham's first and only 'landlocked surf cafe' where I'll teach yoga, sell vegan cakes, have surf movie nights and community art groups. 

So what do you think? 

This idea might not get through past the planning stage, the paper work, or even survive its first year of business. But you know what I have a vision and this, I feel, is the most important part. I've got to give it a go. 

Why not?