It's been a while, hasn't it? No, this isn't an April Fools Day joke, The Lens is back and for a very special occasion. I have just finished a bit of a redesign of my website and I thought to myself "what better way to celebrate the new-look leecambule.com than with a new edition of my personal blog". Cool, huh?
Actually, so much has happened since the last edition of The Lens which was all the way back in December 2018. You will have all noticed the global pandemic that has turned society on its head for over two years and we were lucky in Casa Cambule that when Coronavirus finally found us, it did not leave any lasting effects.
I have changed jobs twice in the last three years and now find myself in the world of regional transformation. Project Management life is - ironically - full of change and this was a path that I had never envisaged my career taking. But I am making a difference across health and social care by leading on changes to services that impact on thousands and it's been a fascinating experience so far.
My writing has progressed and I am just enjoying the creativity of exploring different genres and writing styles in my spare time. I never set out to make millions from it but I have found just the experience of losing myself in a story to be even more therapeutic than ever before. Life can get in the way at times but I haven't stopped writing even if the published work has slowed down. But hopefully, more news on that front is still to come.
By far the biggest change in my life has to be the newest addition to the family; Mrs C and I had a long, difficult road to becoming parents but I am delighted to share that we now have a beautiful son. He is a joy to our hearts and forget all the cliches, we truly are blessed especially as we fought for a long time to get here. It is a journey I will share more about over time but for now, just know that I am the luckiest daddy in the world!
Some things, however, have not changed.
Last year, when the pandemic was at its height and my job (though only a small part of the health and social care machine that was rocked by COVID-19) reached a significantly challenging peak. I suffered burnout and unfortunately had to take time away from work. It was a difficult period for my mental health but not the first I have faced in more than 25 years of mental health challenges. My resilience was given a stern test during a period where isolation and anxiety were rife across the country.
Once again, I found myself on a journey to recovery and was fortunate enough to have a loving, supportive family around to hold me up when the storm threatened to blow me down. My wife has always been my source of strength but when we were both coming to terms with the new rigours of parenthood, it was not easy for either of us so I was so grateful that she found strength enough for the both of us when we needed it.
And that brings us back to the big news. If you haven't already had a look at the newly designed site, you will notice that some elements are now missing. A lot of my references and work around mental health has dropped off the site. Why? Well, that's the big news!
This month, I am officially launching a brand new business as a mental health public speaker. It's an exciting new project for me and I won't spoil all of the surprise just yet but watch my social media channels for more news in the next few weeks. By stripping out the mental health content, you will find leecambule.com is now the focal point of my professional work in programme and project management as well as my "work of passion" as a self-published multi-genre author.
So, The Lens is not going anywhere and I hope to get back into blogging in a big way this year. The new business will take a lot of hard work to get off the ground but I am hopeful that it will enable to me to make a real impact on the mental health of others. That is what started me down this path in the first place; the blogging, the creative writing, the public speaking...it has all been about sharing my story in the hope that it will help someone else with their own mental health challenges.
It's been great getting back to you all and hopefully, more insights from Lee's Lens will be coming soon. But for now, watch out for news coming soon about...The Man, Up!