The job at Royal Mail as a postman enabled me to concentrate on my family and charity commitments whilst maintaining extremely high fitness levels. Although originally taking the job so I could assist two of my sons and my wife with their studies, I thoroughly enjoyed the physical challenge while doing some digital and graphics work around this job.
Although primarily an early morning position, my flexibility and high energy levels enabled me to take on extra workloads within the company around my other commitments.
This was a great way to maintain fitness levels, often walking over 12 miles a day, whilst also having an impact on the people I meet in the community. Every day brought an opportunity to encounter different people of all ages and from all walks of life. My friendly, outgoing personality ensured I could make a positive difference to people’s days, especially some of my elderly customers as I might have been their only contact for that day.
There was also a good camaraderie in the office, where organisation and teamwork were paramount to ensuring maximum efficiency before the self motivation, speed and agility were required for the 5-hour walk.
Quite surprisingly, this job and all the diverse elements of the role had a huge impact on my chosen career. Whilst taking the role to have regular contracted hours that fitted perfectly around my freelance work and family ,it opened up new techniques for some of the more simplistic tasks. It also highlighted some areas that a company with 500 years experience, still gets wrong. Suggestions on improvements were often met with “ah yeah, that would work”; I suppose having a creative, analytic and ‘think outside the box’ brain ensures I can still make a contribution, however small the task may seem.
