Not just any folder...

...this is a portfolio of work submitted for my qualification in careers guidance. The requirement is to collect evidence of professional development throughout the nine months of the training. I like to skim through it every now and then to refresh my memory of some things. Tomorrow I am off to a careers conference which is what prompted digging out the folder.

Mostly when I look at it now I'm reminded not of theories or techniques but of the other aspects of my study - the many hours I worked in two part-time jobs; the friendships made; the self-doubt, the first day nerves when I started my placement; the fraught group projects; the sudden death of a peer on the course. Plenty of blood, sweat and tears went into this folder.