I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water(停滞不前), just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

It takes confidence to make a new start—there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.

Then I met an agent(代理商) who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal—that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck—of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract(合同) of the publisher—to be a published writer—is unbelievably rewarding.

This new packaging material looks like conventional plastic, but it’s actually made from fish waste and algae(海藻)—unlike plastic, if it escapes into the ocean, a fish could eat it safely. The material, called MarinaTex, is the winner of this year’s James Dyson Award.

“It began with my desire to work with waste,” says Lucy Hughes, a recent graduate from University of Sussex, who once visited a fish processing factory to see the massive quantity of waste generated by the industry and found new ways to use it. She focused on fish skins and scales(鳞片). “When I had it in my hands, I realized this has got potential,” she says. “It s super strong and flexible.” Hughes spent months experimenting with fish waste in her kitchen, running more than 100 experiments to find a binder(粘合剂) and a process that could hold together the proteins in the fish skins and scales.“I had a lot of failed attempts. A lot of things either were too easily broken or too soft or easily went bad,” she says. She finally found a type of algae that can be locally got.

The material can be used to replace oil-based plastic in packaging such as bags or the half-transparent windows used to show products in boxes. As her research continues, Hughes says that she’ll be studying how MarinaTex works and how long it could be used to store food.

Unlike some “composable” plastics, which need to be processed in an industrial composting(堆肥) facility to break down, the new material can break down in four to six weeks in a backyard compost bin. “All the ingredients are food-grade safe,” Hughes says. “So, this breaks down much like a piece of food would break down.

You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. “They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing (内化) your victimization (受害). The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.

Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don’t let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don’t blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred (神圣的) moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.

Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺) in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others—and even themselves—to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.

In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.

In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have a fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.