Life beyond Radford
Olivia O’Leary ( Lucas )
What does life look for you now?
Life is busy, busy, busy but I’ve always liked it like that. Time is filled with kids (two little boys), surfing, backyard bbqs, music/embroidery/podcasts/novels while commuting to Sydney for work in Change Management (‘what’s that?’ you say!) and bushwalks. We travel as much as we can with adventure in mind - kayaking in Antarctica, snowboarding in Japan and surfing in Sri Lanka have been highlights. I’m grateful for many things, but especially my health after surviving tongue cancer, my exceptional husband, our folks for helping us bring up our gorgeous boys, and my friends for keeping me laughing myself stupid. Oh and fresh sheets...total guilty pleasure. As I’ve gotten older, rather then asking myself ‘What else can I do today’, I try to ask ‘what can I do less of today’. I suck at sticking to it!
What is your favourite Radford moment?
My memory of specific moments is surprisingly (or not) hazy. But a real ‘high point’ was probably wearing collarless grandpa shirts and blasting out My Sharona as part of the Rock Band at the Radford Fete. And we thought we were cool 😂😂
Do you have a particular role model or inspirational figure from Radford or now?
Hmmmm this is hard. I’d say there’s elements of certain teachers that shaped me - Crash’s playfulness, Cath Amesbury’s spunk and determination, H’s goofiness, Foulcher’s calm steady hand, Mr Leyshon’s ability to guffaw and make you feel both safe and respected in an instant.
How easy was it to decide what to do in life?
Impossible! I had so many interests (this is from a girl who did minimum two cocurricular activities after school each day!) that I couldn’t decide whether to head left, right, up or down. But I was ready for any direction! I’ve dabbled in sport, travelled the world, moved to new cities, studied psychology and languages, danced the night away, worked for big companies, worked for small companies, taught people how to communicate, revelled in family & friends, spent weekends surfing, taken up embroidery and settled in a seaside hamlet. Ultimately, while I still don’t think I’ve found the ‘perfect job’, my life is exactly where I want it to be, and I have zero regrets, so that’s saying something right?
What do you know now, that you wish you'd known when you were at Radford?
The biggest thing I’ve realised is that you shouldn’t ever be afraid of what others think. No one else really cares that much about what you say, do or believe. But if you can listen to yourself, and say, do and believe what is right according to you, you’re gonna be a hell of a lot happier. Oh and I definitely wish I’d known how to break the rules. A Kit Kat on Year 9 camp would have been heavenly.