Am I Privileged? Eight Years Later, I Still Believe I Am
- Rene Joile
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Some years ago, while working as an independent companion in Melbourne and travelling internationally, I wrote an article called Am I Privileged?
At the time, it was written in response to a conversation that made me stop and think about what the word privilege actually meant to me.
It became far more personal than I expected.
I wrote about beautiful hotels, wonderful restaurants, international travel and some of the extraordinary experiences this rather unconventional life had given me.
But I also wrote about what happens behind the photographs.
The long hours. The travel. The sacrifices. Raising a family. Building a business. Learning an industry that looked very different when I first entered it. And the enormous amount of work involved in creating a life that, from the outside, can sometimes appear rather effortless.
Eight years later, I recently found myself reading it again. And surprisingly, I wouldn't change its central message.
Perhaps I Understand Privilege Differently Now
With age comes a slightly different perspective.
Beautiful hotels are still beautiful. I will never pretend I don't enjoy a gorgeous restaurant, champagne poured somewhere fabulous, slipping into a beautiful dress or disappearing somewhere wonderful for a few days.
I absolutely do.
But these days, the privileges I notice most aren't necessarily the ones that photograph well.
It's having choices.
It's having my independence.
It's being able to enjoy an intelligent conversation across a dinner table with someone whose life may be completely different from mine.
It's being invited into another person's world, sometimes for an evening and occasionally for much longer.
And perhaps most importantly, it's being trusted.
When someone chooses to spend their private time with you, particularly when their time is precious, that is something I have never taken lightly.
A Life Built Over Time
One thing I wrote in the original article still makes me smile:
Rome was not built in a day.
Neither was Rene Joile.
There have been many chapters, many countries, countless flights, wonderful introductions, a few wrong turns and more stories as an independent companion than I could possibly fit into one journal.
Some people have remained in my life for an evening. Others for years.
Those are the experiences I treasure most.
Not simply where we went or what we did, but how someone made me feel, and hopefully, how I made them feel in return.
So, Am I Privileged?
Very.
Perhaps even more so today, because I understand how quickly life changes and how valuable our time really is.
I'm privileged to still be curious.
To still enjoy meeting someone new.
To still become excited about packing a suitcase.
To still appreciate being invited somewhere I've never been.
To still love dressing for dinner.
And after all these years as an international companion, to still feel genuinely flattered when someone chooses to invest in the time we share, inviting me into a little piece of their life.
The original article captured a very particular moment in mine.
If you'd like to meet the Rene who wrote it eight years ago, you can read my original 2018 article, “Am I Privileged?” on Medium →
And then perhaps come back and meet the woman she became.
Rene x
