{"id":630,"date":"2021-09-17T17:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T08:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/?p=630"},"modified":"2021-09-19T10:17:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T01:17:47","slug":"stephens-blog-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/?p=630","title":{"rendered":"Stephen’s blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dear Newsletter Readers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to yet another weekly edition of our long running newsletter; for those of you out there that have been receiving and reading it every week since our first newsletter went out back in 2009, I would like to say a big thank you for your patronage and I hope that you continue on receiving and reading it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m back to trying to write a bit of poetry and this week my offering is about going out into the world to try to find yourself (if you\u2019re a bit lost) and also challenge yourself by taking one or two risks that might just create one or two life changing opportunities for you.  Until next week I hope you enjoy the poem and keep safe.    <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the beginning to appreciate the middle and justify the end<\/u><\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n

He left the UK at 26 with nothing more than the means to travel and a rucksack on his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompanied by his brother who\u2019d decided to put his career on hold to go and seek adventure off the beaten track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They left on a cool October morning with a feeling they would never return to settle in the place of their birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their yearly visits home were eagerly anticipated by their parents who were then both still living on this earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They travelled on no further than the country from which they first disembarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it was here that the idea to begin a business was sparked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running short of funds they cashed in their return tickets to the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then they set about finding work that would pay them enough money to allow them to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a short space of time employment came their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They both secured jobs teaching English with reasonable monthly pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They gained as much experience as they could knowing that they would go into business for themselves one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That day eventually arrived and the rest is history as they say.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They threw caution to wind and dove head long in not knowing what to expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were unaware that nothing where they were living is gained from being too direct.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They made a lot of sacrifices that not many would be willing to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They took a lot of chances that only the determined are hardened enough to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were times in those early years when they thought about kicking things into touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They thought about all the hard work they\u2019d put in and why their sales figures didn\u2019t add up to very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They realized that without local help they would never achieve their aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In time they took on an extra pair of hands and that\u2019s when the turning point came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As time went by and staff moved on they never lost sight of their aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remaining true to themselves and faithful to those around them they always fairly played the game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were terribly unskilled at making enemies, but they had a natural gift for making friends.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without reflecting on their beginning we cannot begin to appreciate their middle nor justify their end. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A poem by Stephen Austwick.<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Newsletter Readers, Welcome to yet another weekly edition of our long running newsletter; for those of yo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stephens-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}