It's my final day in India, I am sat in the airport waiting for my flight home reflecting on the past 6 weeks. They really were so good, I met incredible people and learned so much! Initially I really didn't want to leave, desperate to hang onto the experience which had given me so much, to return to Amma's Ashram and help with the floods. But the rain dried things up a fortnight before I was due to fly home and I realised it was a sign I needed to return. I came to terms with the fact going home wasn't the end of the good time, it was the start of the great times.
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
I know I have SO much to look forward to in September. I am very excited to be returning to Norwich to run my yoga and meditation classes, to begin my masters in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at UEL and to be working online, on the various projects I have coming up. I have also created space to focus on my writing, so I can finally get my book written (and I have the Hay House Writers Workshop coming up in Bristol in October which is making me feel even more excited).
It feels really strange knowing that I have given up my stable job working in a secondary school to go freelance and return to studying. Especially knowing everyone will be going back to the job I left tomorrow, preparing for the term ahead. I worried so much about whether or not to make the choice, it took me months to decide to, but I can truly appreciate now that I needed to give up the good (the colleagues I loved working with, the incredible kids I had the pleasure of sharing my time with, and the fun I had teaching) to make room for the great.
I knew that the 'normal' jobo would have given me career prospects, stability, a good pension and a reliable income. But I also knew that I was not destined for a 'normal' life. A standard job, and a life lived all in the same place. I love escaping for the winters, the idea of being my own boss and the drive to make as big a difference in the world as I can. I love Maya Angelou's beautiful phrase, "If you’re always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be."
It is obviously a virtue to be content with what you have, and to know joy and gratitude for all the good in your life. But that doesn't mean you need to stop striving for even better.
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
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Day 5 / 365 days of personal development
ॐ Shanti