The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (60)

It takes all sorts

In our little group who went to Majorca this week cycling (which was an extraordinary trip), there were all sorts.

There were two people who sold their businesses, one for quite an extraordinary amount of money, I suspect (although I didn't find out), and another who is a serial businessman and entrepreneur who, by his own admission, is "filthy rich".

Another who is 25% traveller community blood, whose family used to run arcades in parts of Yorkshire, who's now a self-made man and another who's just retired as a postman.

That doesn't include one of my best friends, Craig, a head and neck surgeon, and me, whatever I am.

But what it was was a range and a split of people, all from different backgrounds and upbringings, and it's extraordinary to look at people through a lens like that and over a spectrum that wide.

One of the things that fascinates me when we're in groups like this is who the happy ones are and why, and it takes all sorts, doesn't it, to make up a group like this?

But as usual and as predicted, it's never about how much someone has that relates to how happy they are; it's about how they choose to spend the time, the privilege, or the freedom they have.

On the first ride on the first day, which was about 70 miles, I ended up side by side with Lee, who's recently retired as a postman.

He rides his bike whenever he wants and cooks tea for his wife every night, who works in healthcare and loves his daughter dearly and just spent time on holiday with her and her boyfriend.

He seemed to me to be one of the happiest guys in the group, not because he had the time that he had but because he was spending his time the way he wanted to spend his time.

It wasn't always like that for Lee, and in the last six months of working for the post office, he was inside all the time. He was born to be a cyclist, but he's made decisions and choices in his life that have now allowed him to be in a position where he can spend his time the way he wants.

That is freedom indeed, regardless of how much money you might have.