Well, that escalated quickly!

There I was, at the beginning of 2020, cozied up on the west coast of Ireland, holidaying with my little family, contemplating the return to Australia, and the return to work-life.

What would the new year bring?

We had a cracking 2019’ and from all accounts, there was no reason to believe that 2020 would deliver a year any less great. Life experience has taught me that our existence is far greater in its intricacy than our minds are prepared to let on.

We allow the comfort of every-day life, in all its mundaneness, dictate our future. We forget that us humans have a small stake on our home planet. Even when we think and feel like we are in full control, we fail to remember that each moment of our life is impacted by our profit, our people and our planet.

Life would be boring if we didn’t invest at least a small level of curiosity as we navigate our way around our purpose path. We take risks, we alter our thought process, we deviate from our original plan. This impacts our environment, daily.

We should deviate. We should change course. We should challenge the status quo.  It is a great way to gain more knowledge and grow on our skills. To educate, learn and expand our mindset and our network of like-minded people. All of this prepares us for such a time that will navigate us back on our purpose path.

Are you one of those employees who stood down from your employment?

I was!

Stood down from my role as a senior consultant.

Major bummer!

I loved my job and the people I worked with. The pressures of COVID 19’have impacted business worldwide. We could not have planned for this in the early days of January and yet, here we are, sifting through a global pandemic. Trying to make sense of this world-wide, life-threatening disaster.

Prior to my starting my role as a senior consultant, I dreamt of starting my own business. I had worked as an internal consultant for many years and helping others in the areas of their own life transition, was where I knew my career purpose was mostly met.

If you have ever found yourself questioning your future, your job, your relationships, yourself, now is the time to take action. You are today old when you realise you’re not going to sit back and wait for this pandemic to pass us by.

The day following my job loss, I  took myself back to my dreamy days of starting a business and what that would look like if it ever came to fruition. I decided that I wasn’t going to sit back and waste time. Sadly, this historical event will impact us, generations wide, but what if we used this time to hibernate in an educative and creative way?

What if we upskilled ourselves in preparation for the return of life in a flowing and movable world? Imagine, if we all spent less time watching mind-numbing TV and listened to podcasts, online webinars, participated in online courses or better still, old-style book reading. Imagine if we challenged ourselves for the return of normality to civilization.

Look, I’m not suggesting you never watch back to back episodes of GOT, Vikings, Sex in the City, The Crown, or whatever TV show you like to get lost in when you pull an all-day binge, there’s a time and a place for it all but imagine if we invested in ourselves today?

If we took the time to make valuable use of the enforced cocoon we have been backed into. To take what we have learned, the people we have come to know, to grow our network of professionals, to strategize our professional return.

So, I stood down on 17th March 2020. I registered my business the very next day!

I was Stood Down, so I decided to Step Up.

What have you always wanted to do?

What is your dream?

What felt like an impossibility in January 2020?

What did you decide not to do in your life that may have felt too great a risk and steered you in the direction of a more comfortable pathway?

I challenge you to ask yourself these questions. Give yourself permission to take the risk today.

What have you got to lose by learning, growing and discovering your inner strengths and abilities?

In our world of uncertainty, I am using this time to prepare for my return.

I think it’s time to  unpack your future X