The silver lining for me during the Covid-19 pandemic was the opportunity for self reflection on what was really important in my life.
When my children’s school closed, their sporting activities came to a halt, my work role radically changed and my husband started working from home.
I stepped off the treadmill of a highly scheduled weekly routine and adjusted to being at home with my family.
I’ve always loved caring for my family and have learnt to be able to do that well, I need to allocate time to be alone and nurture myself.
I created a morning routine of a yoga practice followed by a healthy breakfast.
I would retreat to my front porch which overlooks a nature reserve and take my Leonie Dawson Goal Getter Life Workbook with me.
Schedule time with yourself, and commit to keeping it.
One day in early 2021 I turned the page to a section titled Career Goals.
I forecasted into the future and asked myself what would I like to do differently in my career?
The answer was clear: I wanted to start my own business as a Laughter Yoga facilitator.
I had been trained in 2019 to present Laughter Yoga workshops and it was my favourite part of the Health Promotion role I was working in at the time.
Unfortunately the pandemic had put a stop to these workshops as laughter was a bigger germ spreader than coughing!
It was clear that our community was going to need a lot of mental health support during and after the pandemic.
I knew there were only a limited number of trained Laughter Yoga leaders in Perth so my services would be required.
This was the perfect time to learn from my mentors, gain some entrepreneurial skills and undertake further training.
Later in 2021 when my son was being interviewed for a new school, we were introduced to the term Ikigai – a Japanese concept meaning ‘a reason for being’.
My 14 year old son and I were on a parallel journey: as he contemplated the vocation he aspired to enter, I was re-evaluating my career path.
We were shown this visual model and invited to consider what our life’s purpose could be considering all the elements in the diagram.
This was an affirming moment for me that my purpose is to inspire and empower others to lead happier, healthier lives with laughter.
