As I write this, watching the snow fall, the start of the meteorological spring seems very far away. However, regardless of the weather outside, we are in the season of spring. I hope it will herald a new vigour in us to brush off the winter blues, roll up our sleeves and have a renewed passion for what we do.
It is my feeling that whatever we do in optics, we spend our time at work helping others. Whether a dispensing optician, optometrist, receptionist, educator, student or in industry everything we do is in some way connected to serving our patients or to enable others to serve them. I have said on many occasions, that I see optics as a vocation not as a job.
I am blessed to really love what I do, and have had many conversations with colleagues who are dedicated to the roles they perform every day, often going above and beyond the required core competence. This to me is what brings about job satisfaction. I can think of nothing worse than going into work and counting the hours until home time.
As I say, I am truly blessed – my work in practice is as part of a small team delivering services and products to a broad mix of patients in Aberdeenshire. I am also fortunate to have various other roles – not least ABDO president which enables me to engage and interact with different people in different locations, but with that one common bond of optics and a real passion for what we do.
So, despite the changes and challenges which are part of everyday life in optics, I truly believe we are a sector that genuinely cares about the people in it and what we do; this bodes well for the future.