2014 seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye. It has been a year since my last blog. A year since my friend and mentor passed away. And, almost a year since I moved back to the UK from Hong Kong.

A year which started quite apprehensively, ended up ticking all of my boxes. It has been a year of sabbatical, travel, fun, family, friends, moving, new home and a fantastic new job.

In my new role at GE Capital, I was quickly asked to be our site’s representative for community activities. One of the organisations that GE sponsors is buildOn. BuildOn is an international nonprofit organization that runs youth service afterschool programs in United States high schools, and builds schools in developing countries.

Our local activities in London, served to raise funds to build a school in Malawi; a school that 15 volunteers, from our division, will help to build. What a pleasure to see the pride and excitement of our volunteers when they heard that they had reached their goal and they would be on their way to Malawi this year. Their own one year journey of business plans and fund raising had come to an end and the new part of their journey soon begins.

Having a break in one’s career, whether it’s a sabbatical or not, can be scary for anyone but if it’s used well, it can ensure that you return with renewed energy and vigour, ready to ‘build on’ your life and career. My year has helped me reflect on how fortunate I am, what compromises I am willing to make in my life and how much I am willing to give. I am happy or be back and blogging and I promise it won’t be a year until my next blog post.