Today is story time.
Let’s take a journey back to 2018 – the year I launched the one and only instance of The School of Social Change – Weekend Retreats to Learn About the World’s Biggest Problems and Their Most Promising Solutions.
The experience was amazing – I recruited professors, nonprofit leaders, movement builders, authors, and cultural change experts to discuss cutting edge solutions to our nation’s mental health challenge.
It was a huge success. And then I shut it down.
In the lead up to the event, I was working my full time job at Google, while manically preparing for the event on nights and weekends. (I was up at 6am every Saturday morning working.)
A dear friend could see my frenzied pace and gently asked – “why are you killing yourself doing two jobs when you just want to find your husband and have children?”
I was angry and defensive at first, and spent days ruminating on it, but I couldn’t shake the comment. I knew he was right. I was hiding in my work.
To sort through it, I took one of my first Time Aways. I rented a cabin in Guerneville, packed my journal, some books, and a bunch of healthy snacks and hit the road.
Once at the cabin, I just stopped. I laid in the grass and stared at the sky. I meditated. I journaled.
That’s when my ‘inconvenient truth’ hit me. It didn’t come to me. It came through me, as a deep, very uncomfortable realization: I didn’t want to solve all the world’s problems anymore. (Oh dear!)
I felt intensely scared, confused, sad. For the last decade, chipping away at various world problems was what got me out of bed every morning. It was my purpose and passion. I really believed in my work and loved it.
Until one day I just …. Didn’t.
I stared at the trees for a while, sort of in shock. I started to feel relief that rest was on the horizon, but also horror as I imagined telling my advisors, partners and funders that I was going to shut the project down.
Within a month, it was all over. I took the easy route and told everyone the truth: This is too much. It’s not aligned with my top priority. I’m incredibly grateful for your support.
Just a few months later …. I met my husband.
I didn’t understand how that happened at the time, but now I get it. When I shut down the school, I created energetic alignment. I wasn’t saying one thing and doing the opposite anymore. I started taking actions that aligned with the truth of my heart. And I met my man as a result!
That’s what Time Away gives you: access to the truth of your heart, and the courage to see it all through.
I know many of you are local leaders. You’re starting your first business, pivoting your careers, or taking big leaps. You’re doing the damn thing. And it’s equal parts the best and hardest thing ever.
Time Away is here to hold you through it, to keep you honest and to equip you with all the tools, hype and support you need to go for it.
We’re starting a Retreat Series in March. Together, in the mountains, we’ll slow down, meditate, reflect, and commit to action. The whole group will cheer you on, and you might just change the trajectory of your life.
Spend three days with me over a few months, and you’ll make more progress on your most heartfelt dreams than you have in years. The model is built for that.
More details are here, and you can come talk to me if you have questions. (just hit reply on this email)
Your dreams are amazing, and you’re going to make them happen!
With lots of love,
Kit
