Why would someone with a promising career in the finance industry give it all up to sell cheese?

Happiness of course!

After years working in the banking and finance industry in various leadership roles and lastly as a self-employed Mortgage Broker, I realised my life had no meaning. I wasn’t happy.  I was caught up in systems, compliance, processes, in a false world completely separate from freedom of expression, genuine human connection, sunshine and most of all, caught up in a little bubble that had become my reality – work hard to pay the bills and hopefully make enough money to buy a house (that I never wanted) and live a life dependent on the continuation of my working long, hard, unhappy hours to make money.

I started making new friends living outside the system, living inspired and happy without the need for all this ‘stuff’.  The stuff that binds you and controls you, the stuff that ties you to needing money. The kind of life where your stuff owns you instead of you owning your stuff.

And I realised that I was living my life as a reflection of a system outside the core of nature, the core of who we are as humans, a never ending cycle of desires never fulfilled, dreams never reached, always having more but wanting more. A life of never receiving – time, happiness, freedom, love, friendship.  I saw my friends caught up in this cycle, their overwhelming desire to escape but the fear in their eyes if they were to leave, afraid of the unknown, afraid of society’s and family judgement if they were to give up their well-paying job in a respectable corporation, if they were to downsize their house and take a chance on their own happiness in an enjoyable job that paid less.

I’ve seen the light go out in many people’s eyes, and I felt the light going out in mine. I felt torn, split in two, pulled in two directions – my heart one way, my head the other.

I knew that my heart was telling me what I really wanted but I felt I owed people who had supported me to get to where I was. I felt I needed to be a responsible mother and sacrifice my happiness to give my son a good home, a good education, clothes, toys and holidays.

What would people think of me if I gave it all up?

And then I asked myself the most important question – what would I think of me if I didn’t? What would I think of me if I ignored my passion, my happiness and my dreams?  Who gets to live my life and live the consequences of the decisions I make? I do. It’s me, and it’s all about me in the world regardless of anyone else and their expectations.

I realised that to be the best me in the world, to be effective, to make a difference, to live a life of happiness and give my son the best of me – I needed to be brave enough to follow my heart, to take a leap of faith and know that when I do that, the world will open up and catch me.

And that is exactly what happened.

The moment I let go and had the honest, open conversations with the necessary people, I felt lighter, freer.

Almost immediately I had another job selling cheese in the markets, meeting lots of interesting people.  My first day there I had more fun in the 4 hrs I worked than in my 1 year as a self-employed mortgage broker.

And then another opportunity, to be involved in bringing Teaspoons of Change to the world! Teaspoons of Change is about the small but significant, positive and personal changes we can enact to see a better world for everyone, everywhere and for the environment . Such an amazing concept to be a part of and to share with the world.

To see the world as my community, to call myself a Global Citizen has removed any sense of loneliness and not belonging.  How can you not belong when the world is your community?!

My life now has meaning and purpose and this reflects in my relationships, especially with my son.  What better gift can I give him than my time and to teach him by example to follow his heart, to stay true to himself, to live a life that embraces all cultures, equality, peace, justice for all humanity.

That’s living! and that is why I gave up banking and finance to sell cheese 🙂

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