What were you like at 12?

When the lovely Che Marville , with her luxurious voice led a group of women through a meditation, she asked us to reflect back to our 12-year old self.

Now, not sure about you, but I was able to bring up a vision of myself – white shirt, school uniform, with a toothy grin and fly-away hair. Not an attractive look and really when I was 12, I was not that comfortable in my skin – clumsy, awkward and unsure of who I was, let alone who I could become.

What about you? What were you like when you were 12?

It is such a vulnerable, in-between age. No longer a child, but not an adult either.

When I was 12 I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. And at 42 I was no wiser. It wasn’t until I turned 50 that I discovered I was on the right path. Everything I’d done until that time was leading me to what I do today – running Company of Women and supporting women in realizing their potential.

Sure there have been some signposts along the way that I was on the right path, but there were some detours too.

While I think today’s tweens are more confident and self-assured, I am not convinced that they have a better sense of direction either. In fact today, they have more choices – in what they do career wise, and their relationships with the opposite sex. For me at 12, boys were yucky, whereas today girls seem to become sexually aware so much earlier.

Would I want to be 12 now? No. I somehow prefer my innocent, stumbling self. In many ways I was protected from the harsh realities of life. Was that a bad thing? I don’t think so.