The second innings

Why am I doing this? And why, having chosen to do it, have I called it ‘Second Innings’? I love writing and I admire writers as much as any of the people I admire. For me, this is both an opportunity to practise writing, but clearly is also something of a self-indulgence. After all, who is it for? And, who would read it? 2018 was a big year for me, having accepted a redundancy package and brought down the curtain on a 35 year City career. I contemplated the future, kept reading things telling me to ‘do what you love’ and I broadened my mind with some travel around Europe. That gave me the opportunity to post a few thoughts on Facebook, and I enjoyed the thrill of having it all ‘liked’ and generating some feedback. Having a readership. It is so seductive! It also allowed me some time to listen to podcasts, which in turn, got me focused on playwriting, and subsequently I attended a course on it at the National. I am finding outlets to ‘do what (I) love’.

I have three adult children and I expect I will want to mention parenting and parenting issues if I write regularly. My main areas of interest are politics and philosophy, so it helps that my third child is studying precisely that, plus theatre, sport (I played some junior level county sports, and had a sibling who became a professional), and the pleasures of walking around London. Above all else though, my true fascination is people. Why they do what they do, why I am drawn to some, and not to others, and why some people like me, and what it is about me that means some do not. The last several years of my career was in management positions and watching people react under pressure and dealing with outside of work issues convinced me that I might want to explore Psychology in greater detail. It is part of my undergraduate degree. Since then though, thanks to introductions and conversations, I have been pursuing studies in both Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. I think it has begin to change me as a person and I hope it will inform my attempts as a novelist and/or playwright.

Back to the ‘second innings’. My baby boomer cohort is seeing rising divorce rates. it seems we get to the point where our children are fleeing or about to flee the nest and we look at our partners, and with the knowledge that we may live a longer period than our marriage has already survived and we decide we may not be with the right person for that future. He or she was right for procreation, nurturing and rearing, but the challenges of the second half of our lives may require different partner skills. At the same time, despite anti-ageist legislation, most of my peers are leaving their long term careers, usually ‘encouraged’ by a decent redundancy settlement and are going independent, or part-time, or are consulting, or becoming students, or doing ‘pocket money’ driving and bar tending jobs, or, what a friend of mine calls ‘hobby jobs’. These new roles – personal and professional are what I see as a second innings. At least it is how I see it for me, but I am beginning to realise that I am not very unusual.

In the first innings – and I think this applies to life as well as cricket – one is building a foundation. Generally one eschews risks and attempts to give oneself an element of control over what will subsequently unfold. In a second innings, one can be more expressive, and may be looking to exploit a hard won opportunity, or to consolidate something already achieved. This is how I am visualising things currently, and conversations with my peers persuade me that it is a not uncommon view. Loosely connected to my thoughts, I notice today’s media coverage of Andy Murray’s pre-tournament interview at the Australian Open. I have long admired Murray, from his grouchy, youth period, when winning was everything, to the growing maturity as both athlete and person, who gave us tears after losing a Wimbledon final, and started to amuse us regularly with sharp witticisms in his interviews. He was also strident in knocking back sexism in his sport. In short, he became ambassadorial, transcending his playing achievements. His brother Jamie has become one of the world’s finest doubles players and his mother continues to inspire in coaching, mentoring and education. What a family. British sport, which sometimes shunned one or all three of them, is very fortunate to have had them in its midst. But what struck me was a tweet from Billie Jean King, who wrote “So sorry you cannot retire on your own terms, but remember to look to the future. Your greatest impact on the world may be yet to come. Your voice for equality will inspire future generations.” I think that is apt.

For my generation, we can expect to live another thirty years, and perhaps a few years more than that. Almost as long as our careers to date, and at least as long, or longer, than most of our marriages to date. We have a challenge to live it productively and well, and to be as little of a burden on offspring and State as possible. For the State, occupying our time and helping us to help ourselves away from poor health, will become critical points of future policy. Perhaps I can return to this in future commentaries because I watch how societies with damaging demographics are beginning to think more radically about changes. Japan, Singapore and Germany all tend to catch my attention in this regard. That is for another day. I just felt a need to see what it is like to be a blogger and to establish what my blog would contain. In the past year my travels around Europe and my introductions to Psychoanalysis and to Psychotherapy have opened my mind to fresh thinking and fresh perspectives. Meeting other potential playwrights and marvelling at their imagination and brilliance has also shaped the way I approach people and ideas today. I am enjoying this change and I am not missing my work routines, although I do want to turn at least one of my new interests into a second career. I am very fortunate to have the time and the capital to lead my life much as I want to. Plainly that is not true for everyone, so I want to write about the world as I see it without patronising anyone who does not enjoy the benefits I enjoy.