What I’ve Learned Along the Way

Creating a new business has been an education in itself for me. The past seven or eight months have been a particularly challenging period in my life, but, most certainly, in a good way. My learning curve is not so much an ascending curve as it is a vertical line going straight up. Not only have I had to acquire numerous new skills, but I have been intellectually challenged, as well as having to get to know who I really am and what I really want out of life. This business has been the conduit for the most rapid, most intense development I have ever gone through in my adult life. Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? 

I’d like to share my experience in the hopes that my story will resonate with those who need to hear it, and encourage them to let go of their perceived security and go for what they really want in this life. How many people are floundering around asking the perennial question, “What is my purpose?” I know that at certain times in my life I have been guilty of the latter, and never had the courage to explore it in any depth. I was in a job that I actually loved, serving some of our most vulnerable young men and women, and although there was always a deep sense of gratitude for the effect I was having on individual lives, I always felt that somehow there was more out there for me to do. Not a dissatisfaction, but a niggling gut feeling. The systemic problems in Education became an enormous burden for me, as I felt as if I was alone in the wilderness when it came to affecting real change. When I didn’t get a position in the higher echelons because I am “too much of a change-maker”, I realised that I had reached the glass ceiling in my career and that, should I choose to stay, I would forever be relegated to the workhouse of the system and forever have to fight the slow turning cogs of narrow-mindedness and compliance. Stay, I did, however. I am a single mum. I had to provide for my children and keep a roof over our heads. 

I didn’t waste that time. I worked on myself in the form of doing online self-development courses, and reading books and watching videos by authors such as Brené Brown, William Whitecloud, Jordan Pietersen, Michael Singer, Dolores Cannon, Arjuna Ishaya and recently, José Silva. I seemed to be led to all these books and videos about understanding Universal Energy and its mechanisms. Believe me, that although I regularly practice meditation and have done so for decades, many of the concepts triggered me relentlessly. One of the major lessons I have learned  through this experience is to watch and do nothing. All too often, my reactions to the triggers would land me in a state of unhappiness until I’d realise that I was identifying with my beliefs about how things should be, rather than observing what was really going on. This is an ongoing process. 

With the onset of the pandemic, triggers were abundant and practically relentless. It felt very difficult to sit back and observe in a world that was seemingly in chaos. It all came to a head with the mandates in New Zealand when I chose to follow my intuition and leave my thirty year career. Now what? Talk about the Universe giving me a kick up the proverbial! Although traumatic at the time, with hindsight, this was the best thing that happened to me in a very long time. It was time to put all I’d been learning into practice. Trusting in the process and allowing life to unfold has been the name of the game and I am forever grateful for this opportunity to live life on my own terms, so to speak.

This is not to say that my path is superior to anyone else’s in any way. I have many friends and family who made different choices to mine and I’m not going to lie, this did cause some cognitive dissonance in myself and them for a time, however, as I began to allow life to happen, things changed. There are still those who cling to their belief system so vehemently that they cannot see the reality that connection is the only thing that matters in these times, and this is what is important, nothing else. In order for us as humanity to get through this period of chaos and fundamental change, we need to recognise that the connection to ourselves, the Earth and each other is what brings us closer to our purpose. Each one of us travels the road, be it in different ways, at different rates of speed and by different paths, but we’re ultimately heading in the same direction. We all want to be happy.

This business has been a child of this fundamental tenant. In creating The Ark Education NZ (TAENZ) I have found that my happiness has increased tremendously, probably not because of the business itself, but rather because of what I have learned along the way. TAENZ is all about building connections. This is what is front and centre in everything I do. Being of service and facilitating connections is what makes me happy. It makes me happy as a teacher, as a learner and as a human being. When dealing with business planning, fundraising and marketing, I have learned that this is what has to be at the forefront, as difficult as it is in the world of business and finance. I have faith however, that in keeping my values at the helm everything else will unfold as and when it does.

I am hoping that my story will resonate with and possibly inspire others to ask themselves the hard question, “ Does what I do make me happy?” If the answer is yes, keep doing it. If the answer is no, it may be time to sit back and take stock. My fear of losing the security my career afforded me, turned out to be the only thing between me and the life of purpose I feel I lead now. I am not going to put a rose coloured tint on my chosen path; there are challenges, for sure. However, these challenges no longer seem insurmountable because I am fundamentally happy. My happiness is not contingent on anything. As I follow my heart, things seem to simply happen. I have learned not to worry about the future, but simply look forward to it from the present moment. I don’t need all the answers, or a detailed plan as to where I am going and how I am going to get there. I have my vision and I am allowing life to unfold in every moment -  a hard learned lesson. A lesson that has been fundamental to reaching my happiness. 

My vision is that TAENZ inspires and encourages all to go for their happiness. That it provides a place for us all to connect in the name of education and begin to build a future of happiness for all who choose to live it. 

Written by Calli Veludos