Life is not about who you once were ...

It started with a post on LinkedIn which went something like this "Life is not about who you once were, it's about who you are now, and who you have the potential to be". This post resonated hugely with me, as who I am right now, as we journey through this COVID-19 pandemic, is very different from who I was back in March 2020. Of course the "me" hasn't changed, but my professional life has changed dramatically. Prior to March 2020, my work as a Sales and Marketing Consultant for international dive travel and an Auditor for Ecotourism Australia came to a crashing halt due to the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic. My career, which for the past 15 years has involved travelling domestically and internationally for around 6 months of each year gave me the perfect work/life balance - "Wanderlust" was my middle name.

In late March my husband Phil and I returned from an incredible adventure, travelling from South America to South Africa via the Sub Antarctic Islands.

This trip concluded by us starring in our own "Amazing Race" to return home as international borders started closing around us. It was then straight into 14 days quarantine, followed by lockdown. I watched as my work evaporated, and given the current situation, I fear the hiatus is likely to continue for at least the next 6 - 12 months. I know I'm not "Robinson Crusoe" as the saying goes, but such a dramatic change in circumstances has seen me ride (pardon the pun !!) the up/down mental and economic wave of the pandemic. I've struggled with the "we will come back better and stronger" positive message popping up everywhere. I've struggled just to remain optimistic that at some stage in the future I will be able to return to my previous career in the international and domestic travel industry.

But what to do in the meantime? Who did I have the potential to be? As a responsible citizen, I followed the advice of our political leaders, crawled out from under the doona and supported the economy by spending my first JobKeeper payment on, you guessed it, an eBike - to support my mental and physical health during my career hiatus. And this is where our love story begins ...