[dropcap]C[/dropcap]athy Bavister is a slimming world consultant in the Luton and Dunstable area. I had the pleasure of meeting Cathy when I joined her class where I went on to lose 2&1/2 stone and I gained a fabulous friend in the process. This is what she had to say about Change when we caught up recently
TDK Tell me about your early working life?
CB I left school the day after my last exam and started working the next day full time in retail. I was very lucky to get a job at Next as many of my classmates were unemployed that was 1983!. After returning from Maternity leave i worked as a Sunday Manager, but they cut down the rates to an unsustainable amount. I started volunteering at Lea Manor school teaching adults, and when the actually teacher left, I took over the classes.
TDK Why did you leave teaching?
CB The planning and reviewing, when you added the hours all together the pay wasn’t brilliant, plus i trained as a adult teacher and ended up teaching kids
TDK. Have you had 1 defining changed that has shaped your outlook on life?
CB Yes, Katie came along! In 1997 the best thing that ever happened to me, and in my work life its been my resilience to bounce back
TDK how did you deal with that? Did you see it coming?
CB Yes we had planned to have a baby, and at the time I was lucky to be able to give up full time work
TDK Why SW?
CB I just fell into it really, like I have with all of my jobs. I had lost 5 stone with them in 6mths my divorce may have helped. Then was approached to run a class and I have not looked back . I was still teaching at the time, in the end, I took up SW full time, that was 9 years ago and the rest as they say is history.
TDK What is he biggest kick that you get from your job?
CB Seeing people make changes, look after themselves and transform plus I meet hundreds of people over the year.
TDK As a SW consultant you must see a lot of change physically and emotionally in people, what impact has this had on you?
CB It’s the biggest reward outweighs everything, seeing others succeed
TDK What does change mean to you?
Thinking about life differently, being open to new thinking
TDK. Do you resist it or embrace it?
CB I try to embrace it, but I need to see the results first to be open to it
TDK If there was 1 thing you could change about your life what would it be and why?
CB Being Single and living on my own, well I don’t mine living on my own, just do not like being alone, however having said that, I would not be willing to drop my standards.
TDK What are you reading that I should be reading?
CB Ha ha I only get to read the Sunday papers sadly as there is not enough time.
TDK. Who do you know that I should know?
CB A friend of mine, a deep thinker Neil Pearson.