In September last year, my husband and I moved to Boulder from Cape Town, South Africa. (He found a perfect-fit job in a tech start-up.) I closed my consultancy; packed up our home; and said goodbye to my beloved mountains (I'm a trail runner), rooted relationships with family and friends, and a community we cared about deeply.
The last 10 years in my homeland have been economically exhausting, in large part because of a leader that plundered a nation. The mix of poverty and need, along with incredible talent and entrepreneurship, are a combination that is raw and quite wild. It kept me grateful for what I had, and alert to opportunities. Grit, chasing every idea I had to find the one that most added value, changing my mindset to see the world as one of abundance (I was told the market was saturated and there was no room for me), and kicking down every door of opportunity to see what lay behind - all these allowed me to start my own consultancy. It was such a learning curve. I felt fulfilled: I was helping companies discover their innate potential and their place in the market, and then showing them how to tell their stories with integrity.
The move to Boulder seemed like the right time to take a sabbatical to re-envision my life. And that's when Lifebook came across my path, as these things will with wonderful timing. Lifebook helped me clearly articulate what I want in this next season. The Financial segment also showed me that while I'd been adding value to others, I had not been taking care of myself. Put another way, I've not been good at evaluating the value of what I bring to others. (This is in part due to a stuckness on my behalf to shake some of the values with which I've been raised.)
So. I've got a new idea. One threaded by beauty. A way to connect our world with the beauty of a country, and others. You see, while I couldn't pack my friends or the fynbos in my suitcase, I could bring some of the beauty of my country to the States. I can also look for the beauty that is here, now. And in this move, I've learned that beauty is NOT a luxury. It is a necessity that moves our sights, lifts our hearts, and inspires our beings in a way that a cerebral activity doesn't. Really, it is essential to our survival, and to our thriving.
I've bought the domain name, I've chatted to my sister who has added more ideas, and I've scheduled a call with a friend to see if she'll be a business partner. I have the skills and the network to get started.
Thank you for LifeBook.
And - whew - thank you for reading this rather long note. May each of you bring beauty to your worlds.
The last 10 years in my homeland have been economically exhausting, in large part because of a leader that plundered a nation. The mix of poverty and need, along with incredible talent and entrepreneurship, are a combination that is raw and quite wild. It kept me grateful for what I had, and alert to opportunities. Grit, chasing every idea I had to find the one that most added value, changing my mindset to see the world as one of abundance (I was told the market was saturated and there was no room for me), and kicking down every door of opportunity to see what lay behind - all these allowed me to start my own consultancy. It was such a learning curve. I felt fulfilled: I was helping companies discover their innate potential and their place in the market, and then showing them how to tell their stories with integrity.
The move to Boulder seemed like the right time to take a sabbatical to re-envision my life. And that's when Lifebook came across my path, as these things will with wonderful timing. Lifebook helped me clearly articulate what I want in this next season. The Financial segment also showed me that while I'd been adding value to others, I had not been taking care of myself. Put another way, I've not been good at evaluating the value of what I bring to others. (This is in part due to a stuckness on my behalf to shake some of the values with which I've been raised.)
So. I've got a new idea. One threaded by beauty. A way to connect our world with the beauty of a country, and others. You see, while I couldn't pack my friends or the fynbos in my suitcase, I could bring some of the beauty of my country to the States. I can also look for the beauty that is here, now. And in this move, I've learned that beauty is NOT a luxury. It is a necessity that moves our sights, lifts our hearts, and inspires our beings in a way that a cerebral activity doesn't. Really, it is essential to our survival, and to our thriving.
I've bought the domain name, I've chatted to my sister who has added more ideas, and I've scheduled a call with a friend to see if she'll be a business partner. I have the skills and the network to get started.
Thank you for LifeBook.
And - whew - thank you for reading this rather long note. May each of you bring beauty to your worlds.