New Horizons

A few months ago I decided that I was going to bite the bullet and do something that I had been talking about for a little while. I was going to retire from my Director role, rent out our house and move to the west coast of Ireland. Oh, and I would set up a coaching business with an old friend.

I guess one of the drivers was that the world was facing a new post-pandemic normal. I suddenly realised that I did not want to return to a life of early starts, late finishes and overnight stays. I didn’t want the endless Teams meetings of home working either. What I wanted was balance and the freedom to do what I knew I wanted to do.

Having initially thought that this would be a huge and daunting decision, it felt so right that it was in fact one of the easiest decisions of my life.

And so I am now within days of making at least part of this dream a reality. I finished work on 18 May and my final days were a flurry of finishing off handover notes and saying farewell to colleagues.

There have, of course been times when the consequences of my easy decision have meant that I am running round like a headless chicken with to-do lists of to-do lists. I have told myself that I must be mad, that this is just too hard, that we will never get everything done in time.

And I ask myself ‘Why?’ Why am I doing this? And why does it feels so right, despite the challenges?

The answer to the first ‘Why?’ is because moving to Mayo is something  that my husband and I have wanted to do since we bought our cottage in Ireland eight years ago. Thanks to modern technology and the recognition that coaching can flourish in a virtual world, there is now far more choice as to where our base might be.

The answer to the second ‘Why?’ is that retirement has allowed me to give space and time to make coaching my priority. I have loved every minute of my career, but coaching has always been my passion. That is why, some years ago, I turned that passion into purpose by training as a coach and that is why I have been developing and growing my coaching skills. It is now time to take the next step and make coaching my next opportunity.

I’m looking forward now to hanging out the new ‘Open for Business’ sign. Watch this space.