Article: Leap and the Net will Appear

Throughout my childhood I yearned to know the one particular thing at which I was particularly talented. I wanted to BE “something” – the soccer player, the actress, the singer; anything so long as it was something with which I could identify myself. Instead, I was the kid who was capable in a lot of areas but not known for one thing in particular. The desire to BE something tore at me. And I carried it into adult life. I developed a variety of skills from court advocacy to mountain climbing. In terms of career, my interest in psychology developed into work in psychotherapy. However, I kept finding my interests changing, expanding so that I was led to explore many jobs, none of them igniting a passion. I saw people right and left develop their talents and connect with their passions. Now, the kids who had been “the dancer” or “the soccer player” were “the lawyer” or “the architect”. I still didn’t know what I was, or more specifically, who I was.

Two years ago I took a giant leap into the world of adventure. My husband and I embarked on a yearlong journey around the world visiting 27 countries. We gave up our apartment, put all of our belongings in storage, gave up our jobs and sold our furniture. We spent a year and a half saving, planning and preparing to tell our family and friends. First having to battle my inner critic “this is unreasonable, impractical, irresponsible and foolhardy;” then having to confront outside skeptics “you are doing WHAT? How will you know where to go? What to do? Won’t you be lonely? Won’t you be scared? What if you run out of money? What if you get caught in the middle of political unrest? These are DANGEROUS places! What will you do about work when you come back? Where will you live?“ The preparation was far more challenging than the actual year of travel. What began as a fantastical dream became a life changing adventure.

My wish before we boarded our first flight from Los Angeles to Fiji was that at the end of the year I would have figured out WHAT I wanted to DO. Now, looking back, I know it was actually about finding out WHO I wanted to BE.

Before I left on my journey, a friend told me “Leap and the net will appear”. I took a leap to follow a passion for adventure. As a Life and Business Coach, I draw on these experiences in work with my clients. I support my clients in projects as varied as re-structuring their management teams to redefining their career paths.

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