A job that changed me: I mulched city parks in the dead of winter – I was not cut out for manual labour or working with family

My brother said I was terrible at mulching; he was right. But before tearing up my contract, he imparted some words of wisdom In early 2020 in Canberra, I left my job in human resources.

Ironically the constant onboarding and offboarding of employees made me realise no one ever stays in the same job forever. By the time winter rolled around, it was Covid lockdowns. I had grown a scruffy beard and turned my bedroom…