715. Lifelong Learner and Cancer Survivor Always Played Her Own Game

“I was always interested in helping people less fortunate than me so I did quite a lot of volunteer work. I was also creative and athletic. In fact, I was a championship gymnast for a while and then I was a champion sprinter as well, so I had this nice balance between being an athlete and being a creative person and then giving back and being a member of the community.”

“I attended Auckland University in New Zealand and majored in history and social studies. In my last internship I was focusing on the period of time in our country’s history when the British Crown and the indigenous Maori people of our country had entered into an agreement, after years of fighting, called the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840 that outlined how these two peoples could live in peace. But the treaty was not honored. So I was teaching my students all the ways the treaty was broken by the British. The administration reprimanded me and told me I could not teach that perspective but must stick to the “politically correct” perspective of the story. In that moment I realized that this wasn’t the right place for me and that within the educational system I wasn’t going to get to be who I truly was.”

“My dad said that people who are always educating themselves have a better quality of life and can contribute more to society so I have always been on this learning path. A wonderful sprinting coach told me early on, ‘Don’t turn around to see what everybody else is doing, play your own game, stay in your own lane because every time you turn around to look and see who’s coming behind you, you lose a little bit of speed. So that’s what I’ve done. Yes, there’s competition out there and yes I’ve got to notice it, but I must play my own game to the best of my ability.”

“We inherit generational thinking: we have been taught to get a job, to make a living, to survive, and not to wake up and ask ourselves: ‘What am I here to do? How can I contribute? What are my unique gifts and talents that would make me feel passionate?’”

“Today it’s possible to not only get involved in entrepreneurial activities, but also to give back, to make a difference in the world and get paid for it, to get really well paid. So all you need to do is say: ‘Yes, I’m going to discover what I’m really here to do and I’m going to believe that I’m going to be able to make a really decent living by living my passion.’”