I go to the local Adelaide Botanic Gardens fairly often these days. I love the colours and textures, I love how the light plays on the flowers and leaves, I love how the gardens change with the seasons, and I love the abstract beauty in the detail.

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Mum used to bring me, my two brothers and my sister to the Gardens every now and again when we were kids. We’d have a picnic on the lawns, chase the ducks, and play amongst the trunks of the Morten Bay Figs.

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I now go there with an older set of eyes. I easily loose myself for hours. The closer I look, the more amazed I am at what is in front of me.

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I wasn’t always able to appreciate what I see there as I now do. A difficult childhood and teenage years had deep and long-term impacts on my life. Negative thinking about the world and about myself would constantly wash through my head in a seemingly unresolvable pit of gloom.

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It’s only been in the last couple of years that I was eventually able to lay these demons to rest and move on to a new found way of seeing the world and seeing myself.

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My Opportunity Not Missed is giving myself the time and freedom to enjoy moments like this, and enjoy the good place I have found in being at peace with myself and my life.