December 8, 2025 • 35 mins
What happens when a six-month holiday turns into a 14-year life chapter? You pack a bag for a gap year in the snow and accidentally stumble into a whole new world - a career, a husband, a mortgage, and three children. On paper, it’s the fairytale expat dream.
But eventually, the adventure stops feeling like freedom and starts feeling like distance.
Georgia Louise was living that dream as a ski patroller in Canada. However, when the global pandemic hit, her perception of being "a flight away" changed to feeling "a world away". That was the moment of the pivot: The realisation that to move forward, she had to go back to where she started - but as a completely different person.
In this episode of Pivot Club, Sarah Davidson talks to Georgia about the decision to pack up over a decade of life into seven suitcases to chase a dream she’d been ignoring for years: To become a nurse. Georgia opens up about the "messy middle" of relocating a family of five to regional New South Wales with no credit rating, no local employment history and nothing but a heartfelt letter to convince a landlord to take a chance on them.
We unpack the reality of dismantling a comfortable life to start from scratch, the humility of sitting in a university lecture hall with 18-year-olds as a mature-age student and how Georgia uses her thriving social media platform to fund her studies. Join us for a conversation about the logistics of moving a family across the globe when the pull of home becomes too loud to ignore.
Get ready to be inspired by a woman who is proving that it is never too late to go back to school.
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Host: Sarah Davidson
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to a mom a mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
What happens when a six month holiday turns into a
fourteen year life. You pack a bag for a gap year,
head to the snow, and accidentally stumble into a whole
new world, a career, a husband, a mortgage, and three children.
On paper, it's the fairy tale expat dream. But what
happens when the adventure stops feeling like freedom and starts
(00:39):
feeling like distance. When a global pandemic hits and you
realize that being a flight away is actually.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Being a world away. That is the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Of the pivot, the realization that to move forward, you
actually have to go back to where you started, but
as a completely different person.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Welcome to Pivot Club.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm your host, Sarah Davidson, and I know firsthand how
terrifying it can be to dismantle a comfortable life to
start all over again from scratch. My own journey involved
walking away from the expertise of a legal career to
embrace the chaos of being a beginner again starting up
my business matcha maiden. This is the show where we
unpack the professional plot, twist and brave decisions that change
(01:23):
the course of our lives. We dig into the risks,
the rewards, and the real life logistics of what happens
when you decide to uproot your entire life. Today, we
are talking to a woman who packed up over a
decade of life into seven suitcases to chase a dream
she'd been ignoring for years. That person is Georgia Louise.
(01:44):
She is a mother of three, a content creator, and
now a mature age nursing student. Georgia's story began with
a classic rite of passage, the gap year. She left
Australia for the ski slopes of Canada, intending to stay
for a single winter. Instead, she fell into a life
as a ski patroller, met her husband, bought a house,
(02:05):
and built.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
A life on the other side of the world. But
after fourteen.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Years, the pull of home and a nagging ambition to
work in healthcare became too loud to ignore. In a
massive leap of faith, Georgia and her husband sold their house,
quit their jobs, and moved their family of five to
regional New South Wales with no credit rating, no employment
history in the country, and nothing but a heartfelt letter
(02:29):
to convince the landlord to take a chance on them.
In this heartwarming and honest conversation. We explore the messy
middle of relocating a family of five across the world,
the humility of sitting in a university lecture hall with
eighteen year olds, and how Georgia uses her thriving social
media platform to fund her studies. Get ready to be
(02:50):
inspired by a woman who is proving that it is
never too late to.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Go back to school. Georgia, Welcome to Fivot Club.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It's so nice to have you. I am so excited
to get into your story. But I have already heard
a little bit of a Canadian twang.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
There's a bit of a twang there.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
There is a bit of a twang. I wasn't expecting that,
but I mean, we always begin with our guests past lives,
and of course that makes sense because you moved to
Canada for a gap year that turned into fourteen years,
so of course it rubbed off on you a little fisolutely,
can you start by taking us back to that time
and what inspired you to go after finishing school.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, so my sisters were great leaders in that, and
my mum always encouraged to, you know, spread wings and
we're in you know, not a big city. So it
was kind of like a lot of kids finished high
school and did a gap year, went over the UK
or whatever it might have been, and I was inspired to, yeah,
hit the snow in Canada, which is where I ended up.
I went with my partner at the time. We were
(03:53):
so young, but yeah, we went straight to Whistler in
Canada and skied our little hearts out and then yeah,
did back to back winters. Had you been there before,
I'd never been there. I'd never been there. I know.
It was a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And we got there. Did you think that whole year
that it was just going to be a year?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, well we were actually just going for six months because
that was the winter, right, so it was like, well
do that. And then we did do a bit of
back and forth Australia to Canada, working in the winters,
so like ski hill, the ski hill. Yeah, and then
I stayed.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yes, so what turned it into a fourteen year stin?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, so I ended up meeting my now husband of course. Yeah,
that's how it works, right, My mum's biggest fear. And
then yeah, never came home essentially, so he's Canadian, he's Canadian. Yeah,
so we were living in the town where he was
raised and met him and kind of yeah, stayed from there.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Oh my gosh. Okay, so this chapter was Georgia is
a ski Patroller. Yeah, how did you introduce yourself back then?
And when you met someone? What was the version of
yourself that you presented to the world.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, that's interesting. I think when you're in that world,
it is so normal to be someone who was traveling
back and forth and you're all kind of working in
it together. So it was like I was just a
really fun, adventurous person who was not sure what the
future held and like riding the waves literally just going
with the flow.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So yeah, taking as it comes.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What did a typical day look like for you, Like
in terms of obviously it's not quite a nine to
five to be a ski travel not Oh, it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Was so long ago now. I think we worked like
seven to three point thirty. So we were there an
hour before the ski hill opened, safety briefings, medical training,
and then setting up the mountain for the day and
making sure it was safe for guests, and then just
responding to first aid calls and catastrophes and yeah, big
injuries and kind of all these crazy things and yeah,
so close down the mountain at the end of the
day and go home.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh my gosh, what an amazing way to live.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It was wild. I look back and I'm like, oh man,
that was cool. And everyone you tell, they're like, what
is that live? And I was like, all for nine
dollars an hour? You know, it was great, chilling.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It love it. I think that's one of the most
interesting things about pathways like this is that no one
grows up going I want to be a ski patrol
for fourteen years in Canada. When they grow up like,
it's never been to Canada, so unlikely.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, it just fell straight into this alternate universe that
I never thought existed. And then yes, ski patrolled for
a few years, and then kind of moved into a
more I guess stable job because working seasonally is hard, right,
what do you do in the summer if you're a
ski patrol?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
What did you do you came back to Australia.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Well, no, I just started working little jobs in town,
outdoor stores and stuff. And then I was like, okay,
I need to probably leave that behind and get a
real job. So that's when I started working at a
medical office in Canada, and I was like, Okay, maybe
the ski patroller personality has ceased and I need to
just be like an adult.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So right, okay, so tell us the timeline of that
kind of settling down and meeting your husband and setting
up your family and like a life over there.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
So my husband and I worked together as ski patrollers. Okay,
so we you know, made that life kind of super
fun and exciting. But that was actually in his hometown,
so his family were around, so we kind of knew, well,
maybe that's where we would stay, that's where we'd met.
It all felt normal, we were interested in the same things.
So then when we decided to buy a house, I
was like, well, seasonal work. You can't buy a house
(07:13):
with seasonal work. Yeah, like, it's just not going to work.
So that's when I worked at the medical office more
a full time and he got a job in town
full time, and yeah, we bought our first house and
everything moved pretty quickly from there in terms of like
we came back to Australia for a holiday and then
we got engaged here and then moved back and yeah,
quickly had some kids and just lived life. Some kids'
(07:35):
have been skiing it's such a glamorous life.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh my gosh. So were you still on the mountain.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
No, not working on the mountain. Yeah, my husband kind
of went back and forth and did a bit of
work there, but with kids, it was just impossible with
early hours. So we lived halfway down the mountain and
then went into town for work and back daycare and
you know all those mum things.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And so you obviously gone from a gap year to
a full life. Yeah, a husband, children, a home. You'd
bought a house. One of the things I find really
interesting is when people do make a really big pivot
is when it starts to bubble. For some people it's
really quick. For some people it's slower. But either way,
you're just going along living your life and that's enough
(08:17):
until it's not. Yeah, and then something starts to bubble
that makes you feel like, as wonderful as this is,
maybe this is not the final destination. Yeap, what was
it for you?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Yeah? It started slowly for sure, I think as I
had three kids and I was like, oh, this is hard,
Like my mom's not around, she doesn't get to be
with my kids and all this kind of stuff, And
you know, we went back and forth for Christmases and visited,
But truly it came down to I'm sure a lot
of people had moments in their life that changed in
twenty twenty when COVID hit. You know, my mentality being
in Canada away from all of my family was I'm
(08:46):
just a flight away. If anything happens, i can jump
on a plane. I'll be there in twenty four hours.
Like it's not far, it'll be okay. And then COVID
hit and a few family events happened and things went
awry and I could not get home and it was
just so hard, and I was like, oh my goodness,
like this has really hit me that I'm so far
away and I can't be there for anybody, and my
(09:07):
kids are missing out on so much. So I think
that was the point where we just kind of thought, oh,
we need to do something to get back in touch
with that side, because if that happens again then we're
held back. Then that's really difficult.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So that sparked the sort of physical we might move
to Australia. You also mentioned that then you'd gone into
working in a medical office and that had sparked a
new side of you professionally. So how did that kind
of come about.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Yeah, totally. So the ski patrol stuff definitely was tapping
into that medical interest that I've always had. I've been
so interested in health and first aid and medical stuff.
Like I was the kid that was the eight and
ten year old sitting up watching those medical shows that
probably were much long, lifelong. Yeah, so much interest in that.
As soon as I went to the medical office, and
I was way more interested in what the doctors were
(09:53):
doing than what anyone else was doing. You know, the
patients are calling on the phone, I'm like, oh, but
I just want to watch this docor do this like oh,
So I think being in there was like, oh, I
would love to do more. And even having babies in
the hospital, I was just watching the nurses and being
fascinated by how it was all working, and was like, oh,
this is what I've always wanted to do, but I
just never could get there because I was in Canada
(10:14):
and I'm not going to be a foreign student and
that's impractical and you know. So, yeah, it definitely triggered
at that moment working there that this was something I
needed to work on. Right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I find this so interesting because I think most people
in their life will have kind of an epiphany like
that where they feel a pool towards something that they've
maybe never noticed is a pool before, but not everyone
acts on it.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah, totally. And I was in a really hard time
of life, Like three kids were here and it was like, oh,
actually this Australia thing was twinging and pulling at us. Yeah,
and it was kind of like, well, I also kind
of want to do this. How can we make all
of this work together? Yeah, at once when maybe in
a time of your life where people are slowing down
and you know, being really cautious, we kind of sped
(10:56):
up and started climbing a mountain. But yeah, it's just
the way it all went.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So you moved back to Australia eighteen months ago, now, yeah,
what was the big catalyst, Like that final moment of
we're going to do it? And obviously marrying a Canadian,
he's not moving back, he's moving moving totally.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
So he is doing what I had done, you know,
many years ago, but I was accidental in doing that.
So it all was kind of this slow flow of
this is just the way it's working out, whereas this was, yeah,
picking up everything and making an intentional move really hard
for him, like still really hard for him, but he
understood that, you know, I'd spend so much time away
and you know it's a bit of a given to
take and it's never going to be easy. One of
(11:40):
us is always going to miss out. So we just
started chipping away at this idea of yeah, making it work,
and we came over for a little while and just
to be sure that maybe this was the right thing
we did want to do, and we decided that yes,
because when we went back, I was a homesick little
thing that was not coping whatsoever, and we just kind
of went, oh, no, this is we need to do this,
(12:00):
This is right. We need to be back with your family.
So that's got the ball rolling.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And logistically, how do you move a family you have,
honest and the kids.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Are in school? Yeah, two in school at the time.
Absolutely nightmarish. So I got chipping away getting applying for
their duel citizenship because I'm Australian, my husband's Canadian. So
I hadn't done that when they were born because I
was like, oh, we won't need that. We'll get it eventually,
but not a rush. So that was a whole process
doing the dual citizenship for them, and then my husband
applying for residency here in Australia. Yeah, explaining to our
(12:31):
kids what we're going to do very difficult, leaving their family,
their best friends, their school, and yeah, we quit our
job solder house and jumped on a plane with seven
suitcases for five people and left maybe like ten plastic
containers at my mother in law's house in Canada. And
that was it. Like we literally got here and had
start everything from the fork in the drawer to the
picture on the wall and the door mat like yeah, wild,
(12:54):
oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And like you said, it's the life stage where a
lot of people are slowing down on the big risky moves.
Rarely are people with three children starting from scratch.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Yeah, it really did feel like that.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It just was, oh, we've lost.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Everything, not lost, choose chosen to you know. Yeah, even
the kids' favorite toys to some degree, you know, they
bought their very favorites, but other things we had to
let go and give away and donate, and so it
really was starting from scratch. My family helped a lot,
but yeah, we still had to find somewhere to live,
(13:29):
and yeah, it was challenging.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It's funny, I think there's a scale in psychology of
the emotional impact of big major events in your life,
and there's like a death of a close family member,
there's divorce. You know, there's like big expected things, and
moving house is one of them where your emotional and
physical base is means so much for your stability that
people are often like they move house and they're like,
why am I so tired? It's like, because you've uprooted
(13:53):
your entire life, you.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Crossed countries, cross countries, Yeah, and just didn't really have
a lot to land on on the other side in
terms of no house set up or anything like that.
So yeah, us with our seven suitcases rolling into all
of my family members houses for weeks on end was
a lot. And keeping the kids you know, sorted in
that time and making sure that they were okay was
a priority. So it just really was a lot to manage.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Do you think there's something about once you have made
that decision and you've relinquished sort of your old life,
let's call it, that's really liberating though that then allowed
you to go, wait, maybe I do want to do
this nursing thing. Like if I've thrown everything else out
of the window, I might as well.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Absolutely absolutely. It was kind of a total fresh start.
And part of the move was like, well, you know what,
maybe if I get into nursing at university, that'll be
the deciding factor to make the move. But we kind
of made the decision to do the move. And then
in the meantime of packing all the boxes and selling
the house, I got the email to say that I
was accepted to university and that was like, oh, but
I wasn't expecting that. Maybe I don't go next year
(14:57):
because that feels terrifying and soon and how am I
going to manage that? And in the end I just
went no, actually, I think I just need to do it.
This is it, Yeah, this is it. So you'd applied before, yeah,
I'd applied for not actually thinking that I would get
in because I didn't do university subjects in year twelve,
because I was like, I'm never going to go to university.
I's going to Canada for a gap year. I'll figure
it out later, it's going to be fine. And then
(15:19):
here I am in my mid thirties at university and like, wow, yeah,
how it's changed.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And so when you didn't have the prerex, I think
it's so easy to put up obstacles. It's like, well,
I don't have the requirement, I'm too old for this,
or it was too late for this. Like there's a
lot of risk a version built into the human psyche
for sure. How did you push through that?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yeah, so i'd actually what was kind of funny, I'd
struggle with the timeline with the prerequisites. To get into
the Bachelor of Nursing at university, you have to have
done like science and maths and biology, and I hadn't
done those. So it was actually years before we decided
to make the move that I did the prerequis it's
online in Canada. Oh, I'd done the courses. I think
I must have been on maternity leave at some point,
(16:00):
and I kind of went, oh, yeah, nursing in the
back of my head, it's always in the back of
my head. Maybe I should just do those courses in
case I want to go at some point. Maybe I'll
do it in Canada. Oh that's not practical. And it
was this kind of thought in the back of my head.
But we didn't have any plans for me to go
to university. We couldn't afford me to go to university
in Canada. But I don't know, it's like something, It's
like something just got me. So I had done these
(16:21):
courses a long time ago, and I actually didn't think
they were still valid to get in. So that's why
I was surprised that I got in when I did,
because I thought I had to redo them that first year.
So it all worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
That also makes me think that you were thinking about
it for longer than you think you were.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
That's the thing. It must have just been twinging in
the back of my mind, was just waiting in the wings,
waiting in the wings.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And so you mentioned financially, it is a big endeavor
to move disease or to move back for you, but
then also to commit to studying as a mature age
student is another huge financial undertaking, even if you haven't
just crossed the world. How did your family prepare for
that financial shift?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, so it was huge. I was working, I mean
only part time, but you know, working, contributing to our mortgage,
all that kind of stuff. In canada's been working full time.
We were fortunate enough to own our own home, so
we sold that, but we fortunately haven't had to use
a lot of the money that we brought over. We
came here and yeah, my husband's working full time and
I'm doing a little bit of content creative work on
(17:21):
the side, so that actually really helps us and allows
me to be at university full time. And Australia is
so good about, you know, not having to pay your
student loans while you're studying. Yeah, whords in Canada you do,
which is crazy. As soon as you take out that loan,
you make for payments and it's like, oh my gosh,
could never Yeah, and my three kids are now in
school so we don't have daycare costs anymore. Yeah, which
(17:43):
is great. So yeah, we're just kind of muddling through.
Wait till we get to the end.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Okay, but tell me about the content creation.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
So about three years ago I started creating content on
It was just TikTok at the time, just living in
a mid sized body so as fourteen to sixteen gal
trying to find the right clothes, and I would often
send my sister's messages being like, oh these jeans, look
at these They're so great. People get sick of you
always saying like, you know, I'm totally a shoper Holly,
and I'm always like, oh my gosh, look at this sale.
Oh anyway, I started following people on TikTok that were
(18:11):
kind of doing that, and I was like, oh, there's
a lot of interest for this fun that I started
that and then yeah, maybe like you know, had a
few little bits going with that, and then a year
later kind of picked up. And then only a year
ago now I went over onto Instagram and that just
kind of blew up a little bit. So yeah, now
it's a lot of fun and a little extra income,
(18:34):
and yeah, takes up my time when studying is you know,
in break and holidays and all that jazz, and allows
me to be flexible with the kids, which is incredible.
I'm so fortunate.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
This is so cool because that's like another completely different pivot.
It's sort of as allowed you to be able to
fund your study and that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
It's so incredible. And I can share parts of my
journey on there because you know, a lot of people
follow me for like the mid size fashion fines kind
of and then they realize that I'm actually a nursing
student as well at university and they're like, oh my gosh,
I had no idea talk more about that. How did
that happen? What do you mean, you're doing this and
I'm like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's an interesting store of a thing. Well, both of
those things are also kind of putting yourself out there.
Like going back as a mature age student is a
bit overwhelming, and I know a lot of people find
it scary because you feel like you've forgotten how to
study or to take exams, and then everyone else around
you was younger. And then putting yourself out there on
(19:28):
social media. It's also very public, and it is nervy
to kind of post a video of yourself and put
yourself out there. This is the messy middle because there
are so many messy parts of trying something new. How
did you get through that fear of failure or judgment
or nerves.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Yeah, it's been a process for sure. Like I've always
been a chatty person, but not necessarily always a confident person. Yeah,
And I think part of me staying on TikTok for
so long was hiding. You know, no one I knew
as like a millennial was really on TikTok, so no
one knew I was there.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Y'are then never gonna find you?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
You're ever gonna find me. My sisters and my mum
didn't know. I was making videos on TikTok for a
months until it was like I had these new clothes
and I was like, oh, I'm kind of like ricking
these videos, but like, oh, it's a bit embarrassing. Don't
go look, don't do it. Don't do it. And then
university was like, yeah, hard to put yourself out there
because you arrive on the first day in classes and
it is a whole bunch of eighteen year olds and
(20:22):
go home to a home cooked meal by their mom.
You know, they get to go home like my kids
get to go but all the man, you're the mom
looking the dinner and making the lunch boxes before I
run off to class. So yeah, being at university, I
just kind of had to play that little mother role
a little bit. And then the content creation stuff, it's
just confidence is built over time. I go back and
watch those first videos and I'm basically whispering and I
(20:43):
don't know how anyone was understanding what I was saying,
but yeah, it's come with time, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I always say, if you don't cringe at the earliest
versions of your work, like you're not doing the right thing, Yeah,
you haven't moved on enough you want to look at
it and go, wow, that's awful.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yes, I come a long way and thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
What would you say was the hardest bit for you
about the messy middle? Was it the sort of financial
was it trying things that are knew? Was it balancing motherhoods?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
I'm going to cry now. Oh no, I'm totally fine,
totally fine. It was my kids, yeah, yeah, making sure
that they felt home, right. Yeah, wherever we are is
home for them. But that was hard for them to
say goodbye to what they knew and what they loved,
and we were all starting fresh, and so much emotion
(21:33):
came with that. They're so settled now and they're so
wonderful and beautiful and happy, but they still miss so
much and we still miss so much. And yeah, no
matter where we are, someone misses out. That's always going
to be the way. So that was hard. It still
feels messy at times, eighteen months later, going oh gosh,
did we do the right thing? I know we did
(21:54):
the right thing, but that kid really misses that, and
my husband really misses that, and wow, but if we
were back there, a few of us would miss everything
here and it's just not easy messy is the right word.
So messy.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think anyone who has fallen in love overseas and
made a family will understand that split feeling of one
of you is always away from home.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
That's it just never gets easier.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And the beautiful thing is that you have created a
home that is you that you know. I think there's
that beautiful quote. Home is not a place, it's with
the people that.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
You love exactly exactly. So I've just tried to drum
that into the kids. And you know, they have a
beautiful kid life with all the sports and all the things,
and you know, much more opportunity here than they had
in us, much smaller kind of mountain town in Canada,
and we're going back for Christmas this year and that
would be wonderful and lovely and but yeah, it's it's
so different. It's just reminding them that no matter where
(22:53):
we are, as a family of five, we are okay,
and we have each other. So yeah, constant battle.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But what a great adventure you've taken them on. Like, yeah,
I think one of the most amazing things you can
do for kids is show them the world's.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
People keep saying they will look back and remember what
you did, and how strong you were and how did
you make that decision? Mom? And you know what do
you mean? You moved us across the world. So I
just hope that, Yeah, that's exactly how it looks for them.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Absolutely, and it's definitely good for them to be able
to experience both families as well. If they've missed your
family all this time, to get some time with their
Aussie families, and we're going to beat those accents out
of absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Come on, they've got this y being at school with
a bunch of kids.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So what does life look like now? Like, what is
the average day for you now that you're in regional
New South Wales and you're nice and settled as an
Aussie family. Second year nursing student.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, so im in my second year now, so I'm
studying full time, so I'll only be three years, which
is really lovely. So one more year to go. My
final marks are almost back for this year, which is awesome,
But it's really just battling, Yeah, the constant push and
pull of needing to study and deadlines of assignments. So thankfully,
now that the kids are all at school, I'll drop
them off, get the day started. Come back and study,
(24:16):
knock out some assignments, get some pre course work done,
and then one to two days a week I'm at
the university, so you're going for labs where you learn
all of your physical skills. And then the hard parts
are when I'm out on placement, so at hospitals for
four to six weeks at a time, and you know
you're either seven to three or one to ten pm.
And yeah, battling with the kids with that kind of
(24:37):
movement is tricky, which you know, life will look like
that when I'm finished a little bit. So it's a
bit different. Training. Yeah, good training, good reality check. But
it's just finding the balance of yeah, the study time.
And my husband's very supportive. So on weekends if i
have something coming up, you know, it's like I'll take
the kids out, take three hours just to get that
assignment done or you know, whatever is ticking away in
(24:58):
the background. But my daughter would learn things with me,
and like, you know, we do palm cards together and
she'd be like, mom, the cranial nerves. What was that again?
And I'm like reading them out reputation She's like, you
got that one wrong? What about this? And I'm like, oh,
you're a gym. This is actually she's a genius. She's
a future nurse for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Actually you also have a family connection.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So my grandma was a nurse. Loved it.
That was like what she think I'd come in here
and an emotional goal. This is my grandma passed away
during COVID. So that was one thing that I couldn't
get back for, right, I'm sorry anyway, No, it's okay.
(25:38):
She lived a beautiful, just lovely old age. She traveled
nursed a lot, and she was in England when the
Queen was coronated, and you know she's in these photos
and she was nursing over there and nursing in Australia.
She always looked at me and said, you're the nurse.
You're the nurse of the family. And I was like,
oh wow. And I think that was on my back right, No,
when I was taking those courses and working at the
(25:59):
medical office. So I'm like, I'm the nurse, but I
just can't get there, and how do I get there?
I want to do it so bad, I'm so interested,
but now I'm a mom of three kids, and how
do we make this work? So yeah, my grandma was
definitely in the back of my mind, and now here
I am like, I'm over halfway there, and thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
She would be so proud.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah, she would be so proud. Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Finally there go Oh that's really beautiful.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
As you mentioned, it is quite a shift based career
to move into. But when you do qualify, what will
your life look like?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, so it's hard to tell. Right now. I'm still
not super settled in what i want to do as
a nurse. So, you know, a lot of people ask
you and it's like, well, I'm still kind of trying
to figure it out. If you had asked me, you know,
a year ago, I would have said, oh, emergency or
a pediatrics And now, like, you know what, I don't know.
I don't think i'll work full time when I'm done,
just because of the kids and the content creating stuff
(26:51):
that I have on the side is fairly time consuming.
I think I'll end up working in a hospital in
some capacity. I would love to work in women's health.
That is my passion, absolute passion. So I'll have to
try and find a bit of a unicorn job, I think, so,
you know, try and make some connections over my next
kind of year in placement and see where that lands me.
But I'm sure I'll end up just being in the
(27:13):
hospital for a little while before I find my feet,
but certainly in a part time capacity and just trying
to juggle all the kid stuff with that while just
gaining experience.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How does it work with specialization, Like do you have
to sort of streamline from the end of your career
or do you all graduate with the exact same nursing
degree and then you start to do rotations.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Yeah, that's exactly it. So everyone finishes with the same degree.
Some people may have had more practical hours in certain
areas depending on which hospitals they were placed at, but yeah,
you all kind of finish and then decide where you
want to go. So you can apply for like new
grad roles at hospitals in certain areas, but usually they
kind of funnel you into those roles that rotates for
a while until you find what you want to do.
Then you can do some extra training.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah, okay, so you've got time. You don't have to
decide like now, that's right.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It doesn't have to be in a study time, thankfully,
so I can decide at the end and.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
When you did start studying. Obviously I was so busy
with the kids as well. But were you working from
the beginning? Did you work alongside.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
No, So I knew that full time study would be
a lot, which it really is. They say it's yeah,
five days a week study time and getting the kids
settled was really important. As I've said, so, I think
I knew that that would be a lot of work
in itself. But that's where the content creation came into
play because it allowed me, I guess that is my
part time job. You know, I have to start. I
have to start telling myself that that is you know,
(28:28):
that is my job. It may not be conventional, but
I do make money that way. So the flexibility of
that really helped in not having to go and get
a part time job. So that's helped along the way
for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
There are so many ways that social media gets a
bad rap, and of course there are risks and downsides,
but it has given so many people and a lot
of women, really amazing careers that are flexible.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Absolutely. I used to look at some of those creators
online and think, oh, my gosh, cool is that? Like, oh,
you just get to work from home? It's so flexible.
How fun is that? And now here I am going, Oh, like,
you can do it too, anyone can do it, have
a good idea post it. I promise you'll get there.
And it's been so worth it to stick with it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Well, you did say that you feel like you're still
in the mess in all, but from the outside it
is extraordinary that you have been able to move an
entire family to the other side of the world, make
your beautiful children feel safe, and take a big leap
to go back to UNI and do something brand new.
That's a lot on your p but I think there
are a lot of other women out there, particularly in
(29:25):
our thirties, and I think it actually happens often on
Matt leave. It's the first time for many people that
they have stopped and gone, I want more, absolutely, or
I want something else, and you know what, I'm allowed
to have that. What advice, as someone who's done that,
would you give to any women who are listening and
feeling too scared or too held back to actually take
(29:48):
that step.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Yeah, it's so hard, and I think it definitely takes
you know, a certain person to be confident in their
abilities and to wade through the messy stages, but you
just need to commit to it. I mean it took
me a while, right, you know. It was like fifteen
years after I finished high school and I was like, oh, yeah,
that's what I wanted. Yeah, so I'm not going to
(30:08):
be like, just do it, because I could have just
done it when I was twenty five too, and I didn't.
So it just took a lot of time. And I think,
just yeah, figuring it out in your mind. If you've
got something that you want to do and it doesn't
seem to be exiting your mind anytime soon, just explore it.
The more I explored it, and the more I found
out about it and how achievable and how many other
moms were studying. I think there's so many mums that
(30:30):
have babies and have seen the medical system truly, like
inside a hospital for the first time, like days on end,
and they kind of go, oh, yeah, that is kind
of what I want to do. So the more you
get exposed, the more interest you have. And it's just
about making the decision, finding family, support, finding friends, and yeah,
taking the leap.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But of course at the time, you don't know it's
going to all work out, and that is a really
overwhelming emotion to sit with for anyone else who's listening
and who is in that still kind of hazy, blurry
pre move or pre pivot phase. What did you tell
yourself to get through it? How did you reassure yourself, actually,
(31:10):
it is going to be okay.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeah, there was a lot of moments of doubt, you know,
when our house hit the market and it wasn't selling
within the first few weeks even, and we went, oh,
my gosh, maybe it's not meant to be. But I
think the pool from my family from the other side
of the world, not that they never encouraged me to
move or to come home or any of that, but
recognizing the time that I had missed with them was
the pool that I needed. And then as soon as
(31:33):
we landed here, you know, it was so hard to
get here, but once you've made the decision to make
all the big changes and quit your job and you know,
sell the house, it was like, we're doing this, like
we're on the train when there's no turning back. Yeah,
we're going forward. So we just had to keep pushing
and it was hard and messy and emotional, but as
soon as we got here and we were embraced by
my family. I went, oh, this is it, you know,
summer nights with my kids playing with their cousins and
(31:56):
my mom dropping around with a meal for dinner, and
I went, oh, my gosh, I've missed this, like, this
is what I missed out on. And that's when you went, oh,
this is right, this is right to be here now.
The kids are young enough to you know, be adaptable,
and if it's been on your mind, it's one of
those things where I think you just have to experience it.
And it could have been wrong. You know, a year ago,
(32:18):
we could have said no, this was wrong, and I
would have been happy to be like, yep, we're wrong,
let's go home. Yeah, but you realize along the way
that there are those moments where you go, oh, yeah, no,
this is it, this is right. We itched the scratch
and it was so so worth it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I truly believe you can't be what you can't see.
You know, a couple of years ago, or a decade
ago or whatever, you wouldn't have seen that many examples
of women going back as mothers with children to start
from the beginning. But you are such an inspiring example
of that. Truly, back talking to sort of younger Georgia
before you pack that first box to move to Canada,
(32:53):
before you clicked on the application button to apply for nursing.
Is there anything you wish you knew then?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Oh, I don't know. I think maybe just a toll
it would take having kids in tow. I think that's
been the hardest part. I think if someone had told
me how hard that was going to be to try
and you know, resettle them and encourage them and make
them comfortable at a new school with new friends and
all that kind of stuff, or maybe it would have
been detrimental to think more about that. Yeah, I don't know,
Maybe maybe you wouldn't be here and maybe that was
(33:19):
the naivety that really got me there. But I think
that is the hurdle that I probably wish that I, yeah,
maybe opened up a little bit more about them prior
to us moving and you know, educating them on the
wise instead of trying to manage it after.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Interesting you use the word naivety because I actually think
it works in our favor.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, that's so true. Actually, that's so true because yeah,
as I was processing there and I'm like, oh no,
actually that worked. Yeah, because I wouldn't have done it,
Like exactly, if I really hadn't known, that wouldn't have
been a good idea.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
So has it all been worth it?
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It's been so worth it. O. I let think back,
and I'm like, imagine, if we didn't move, if we
didn't take the leap, we'd still be living the same life,
which was a wonderful, beautiful life. But the times that
I get with my family here are invaluable. And my
kids with their cousins who they would never never have
spent a lot of time with. The support is unimmeasurable.
And you know, being in Canada was fun and well,
(34:09):
and they would visit. But it's just been so worth
the experience. You know, even if I get to six
months from now and not graduate for some unforeseen reason,
it's all been so worth it, just going through the
process trying it so worth it.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Oh, I love that so much. And I can't wait
to see what the next chapter.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Yes in store for you. Totally so many more things,
I'm sure who knows there's always something going on in
my brain.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Well, thank you so much for sharing it so openly,
all of us.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
That's all for this week's Pivot Club. If you are
loving these stories of reinvention, please hit that follow button
on your podcast app so you never miss a beat.
And if you know a mom who is thinking about studying,
or someone dreaming of a big move, send this episode
their way.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
It might be the sign they've been waiting for.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Pivot Club is produced by Sally Best, with audio production
by Tom Lyon. Our executive producer is Courtney Amenhauser. Thank
you so much for listening and I will catch you
next time.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Mumma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded on
You're listening to a mom a mea podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
What happens when a six month holiday turns into a
fourteen year life. You pack a bag for a gap year,
head to the snow, and accidentally stumble into a whole
new world, a career, a husband, a mortgage, and three children.
On paper, it's the fairy tale expat dream. But what
happens when the adventure stops feeling like freedom and starts
(00:39):
feeling like distance. When a global pandemic hits and you
realize that being a flight away is actually.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Being a world away. That is the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Of the pivot, the realization that to move forward, you
actually have to go back to where you started, but
as a completely different person.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Welcome to Pivot Club.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm your host, Sarah Davidson, and I know firsthand how
terrifying it can be to dismantle a comfortable life to
start all over again from scratch. My own journey involved
walking away from the expertise of a legal career to
embrace the chaos of being a beginner again starting up
my business matcha maiden. This is the show where we
unpack the professional plot, twist and brave decisions that change
(01:23):
the course of our lives. We dig into the risks,
the rewards, and the real life logistics of what happens
when you decide to uproot your entire life. Today, we
are talking to a woman who packed up over a
decade of life into seven suitcases to chase a dream
she'd been ignoring for years. That person is Georgia Louise.
(01:44):
She is a mother of three, a content creator, and
now a mature age nursing student. Georgia's story began with
a classic rite of passage, the gap year. She left
Australia for the ski slopes of Canada, intending to stay
for a single winter. Instead, she fell into a life
as a ski patroller, met her husband, bought a house,
(02:05):
and built.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
A life on the other side of the world. But
after fourteen.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Years, the pull of home and a nagging ambition to
work in healthcare became too loud to ignore. In a
massive leap of faith, Georgia and her husband sold their house,
quit their jobs, and moved their family of five to
regional New South Wales with no credit rating, no employment
history in the country, and nothing but a heartfelt letter
(02:29):
to convince the landlord to take a chance on them.
In this heartwarming and honest conversation. We explore the messy
middle of relocating a family of five across the world,
the humility of sitting in a university lecture hall with
eighteen year olds, and how Georgia uses her thriving social
media platform to fund her studies. Get ready to be
(02:50):
inspired by a woman who is proving that it is
never too late to.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Go back to school. Georgia, Welcome to Fivot Club.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It's so nice to have you. I am so excited
to get into your story. But I have already heard
a little bit of a Canadian twang.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
There's a bit of a twang there.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
There is a bit of a twang. I wasn't expecting that,
but I mean, we always begin with our guests past lives,
and of course that makes sense because you moved to
Canada for a gap year that turned into fourteen years,
so of course it rubbed off on you a little fisolutely,
can you start by taking us back to that time
and what inspired you to go after finishing school.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, so my sisters were great leaders in that, and
my mum always encouraged to, you know, spread wings and
we're in you know, not a big city. So it
was kind of like a lot of kids finished high
school and did a gap year, went over the UK
or whatever it might have been, and I was inspired to, yeah,
hit the snow in Canada, which is where I ended up.
I went with my partner at the time. We were
(03:53):
so young, but yeah, we went straight to Whistler in
Canada and skied our little hearts out and then yeah,
did back to back winters. Had you been there before,
I'd never been there. I'd never been there. I know.
It was a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And we got there. Did you think that whole year
that it was just going to be a year?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, well we were actually just going for six months because
that was the winter, right, so it was like, well
do that. And then we did do a bit of
back and forth Australia to Canada, working in the winters,
so like ski hill, the ski hill. Yeah, and then
I stayed.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yes, so what turned it into a fourteen year stin?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, so I ended up meeting my now husband of course. Yeah,
that's how it works, right, My mum's biggest fear. And
then yeah, never came home essentially, so he's Canadian, he's Canadian. Yeah,
so we were living in the town where he was
raised and met him and kind of yeah, stayed from there.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Oh my gosh. Okay, so this chapter was Georgia is
a ski Patroller. Yeah, how did you introduce yourself back then?
And when you met someone? What was the version of
yourself that you presented to the world.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, that's interesting. I think when you're in that world,
it is so normal to be someone who was traveling
back and forth and you're all kind of working in
it together. So it was like I was just a
really fun, adventurous person who was not sure what the
future held and like riding the waves literally just going
with the flow.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
So yeah, taking as it comes.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
What did a typical day look like for you, Like
in terms of obviously it's not quite a nine to
five to be a ski travel not Oh, it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Was so long ago now. I think we worked like
seven to three point thirty. So we were there an
hour before the ski hill opened, safety briefings, medical training,
and then setting up the mountain for the day and
making sure it was safe for guests, and then just
responding to first aid calls and catastrophes and yeah, big
injuries and kind of all these crazy things and yeah,
so close down the mountain at the end of the
day and go home.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh my gosh, what an amazing way to live.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It was wild. I look back and I'm like, oh man,
that was cool. And everyone you tell, they're like, what
is that live? And I was like, all for nine
dollars an hour? You know, it was great, chilling.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It love it. I think that's one of the most
interesting things about pathways like this is that no one
grows up going I want to be a ski patrol
for fourteen years in Canada. When they grow up like,
it's never been to Canada, so unlikely.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, it just fell straight into this alternate universe that
I never thought existed. And then yes, ski patrolled for
a few years, and then kind of moved into a
more I guess stable job because working seasonally is hard, right,
what do you do in the summer if you're a
ski patrol?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
What did you do you came back to Australia.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Well, no, I just started working little jobs in town,
outdoor stores and stuff. And then I was like, okay,
I need to probably leave that behind and get a
real job. So that's when I started working at a
medical office in Canada, and I was like, Okay, maybe
the ski patroller personality has ceased and I need to
just be like an adult.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So right, okay, so tell us the timeline of that
kind of settling down and meeting your husband and setting
up your family and like a life over there.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
So my husband and I worked together as ski patrollers. Okay,
so we you know, made that life kind of super
fun and exciting. But that was actually in his hometown,
so his family were around, so we kind of knew, well,
maybe that's where we would stay, that's where we'd met.
It all felt normal, we were interested in the same things.
So then when we decided to buy a house, I
was like, well, seasonal work. You can't buy a house
(07:13):
with seasonal work. Yeah, like, it's just not going to work.
So that's when I worked at the medical office more
a full time and he got a job in town
full time, and yeah, we bought our first house and
everything moved pretty quickly from there in terms of like
we came back to Australia for a holiday and then
we got engaged here and then moved back and yeah,
quickly had some kids and just lived life. Some kids'
(07:35):
have been skiing it's such a glamorous life.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh my gosh. So were you still on the mountain.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
No, not working on the mountain. Yeah, my husband kind
of went back and forth and did a bit of
work there, but with kids, it was just impossible with
early hours. So we lived halfway down the mountain and
then went into town for work and back daycare and
you know all those mum things.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And so you obviously gone from a gap year to
a full life. Yeah, a husband, children, a home. You'd
bought a house. One of the things I find really
interesting is when people do make a really big pivot
is when it starts to bubble. For some people it's
really quick. For some people it's slower. But either way,
you're just going along living your life and that's enough
(08:17):
until it's not. Yeah, and then something starts to bubble
that makes you feel like, as wonderful as this is,
maybe this is not the final destination. Yeap, what was
it for you?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Yeah? It started slowly for sure, I think as I
had three kids and I was like, oh, this is hard,
Like my mom's not around, she doesn't get to be
with my kids and all this kind of stuff, And
you know, we went back and forth for Christmases and visited,
But truly it came down to I'm sure a lot
of people had moments in their life that changed in
twenty twenty when COVID hit. You know, my mentality being
in Canada away from all of my family was I'm
(08:46):
just a flight away. If anything happens, i can jump
on a plane. I'll be there in twenty four hours.
Like it's not far, it'll be okay. And then COVID
hit and a few family events happened and things went
awry and I could not get home and it was
just so hard, and I was like, oh my goodness,
like this has really hit me that I'm so far
away and I can't be there for anybody, and my
(09:07):
kids are missing out on so much. So I think
that was the point where we just kind of thought, oh,
we need to do something to get back in touch
with that side, because if that happens again then we're
held back. Then that's really difficult.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So that sparked the sort of physical we might move
to Australia. You also mentioned that then you'd gone into
working in a medical office and that had sparked a
new side of you professionally. So how did that kind
of come about.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Yeah, totally. So the ski patrol stuff definitely was tapping
into that medical interest that I've always had. I've been
so interested in health and first aid and medical stuff.
Like I was the kid that was the eight and
ten year old sitting up watching those medical shows that
probably were much long, lifelong. Yeah, so much interest in that.
As soon as I went to the medical office, and
I was way more interested in what the doctors were
(09:53):
doing than what anyone else was doing. You know, the
patients are calling on the phone, I'm like, oh, but
I just want to watch this docor do this like oh,
So I think being in there was like, oh, I
would love to do more. And even having babies in
the hospital, I was just watching the nurses and being
fascinated by how it was all working, and was like, oh,
this is what I've always wanted to do, but I
just never could get there because I was in Canada
(10:14):
and I'm not going to be a foreign student and
that's impractical and you know. So, yeah, it definitely triggered
at that moment working there that this was something I
needed to work on. Right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I find this so interesting because I think most people
in their life will have kind of an epiphany like
that where they feel a pool towards something that they've
maybe never noticed is a pool before, but not everyone
acts on it.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah, totally. And I was in a really hard time
of life, Like three kids were here and it was like, oh,
actually this Australia thing was twinging and pulling at us. Yeah,
and it was kind of like, well, I also kind
of want to do this. How can we make all
of this work together? Yeah, at once when maybe in
a time of your life where people are slowing down
and you know, being really cautious, we kind of sped
(10:56):
up and started climbing a mountain. But yeah, it's just
the way it all went.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So you moved back to Australia eighteen months ago, now, yeah,
what was the big catalyst, Like that final moment of
we're going to do it? And obviously marrying a Canadian,
he's not moving back, he's moving moving totally.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
So he is doing what I had done, you know,
many years ago, but I was accidental in doing that.
So it all was kind of this slow flow of
this is just the way it's working out, whereas this was, yeah,
picking up everything and making an intentional move really hard
for him, like still really hard for him, but he
understood that, you know, I'd spend so much time away
and you know it's a bit of a given to
take and it's never going to be easy. One of
(11:40):
us is always going to miss out. So we just
started chipping away at this idea of yeah, making it work,
and we came over for a little while and just
to be sure that maybe this was the right thing
we did want to do, and we decided that yes,
because when we went back, I was a homesick little
thing that was not coping whatsoever, and we just kind
of went, oh, no, this is we need to do this,
(12:00):
This is right. We need to be back with your family.
So that's got the ball rolling.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And logistically, how do you move a family you have,
honest and the kids.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Are in school? Yeah, two in school at the time.
Absolutely nightmarish. So I got chipping away getting applying for
their duel citizenship because I'm Australian, my husband's Canadian. So
I hadn't done that when they were born because I
was like, oh, we won't need that. We'll get it eventually,
but not a rush. So that was a whole process
doing the dual citizenship for them, and then my husband
applying for residency here in Australia. Yeah, explaining to our
(12:31):
kids what we're going to do very difficult, leaving their family,
their best friends, their school, and yeah, we quit our
job solder house and jumped on a plane with seven
suitcases for five people and left maybe like ten plastic
containers at my mother in law's house in Canada. And
that was it. Like we literally got here and had
start everything from the fork in the drawer to the
picture on the wall and the door mat like yeah, wild,
(12:54):
oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And like you said, it's the life stage where a
lot of people are slowing down on the big risky moves.
Rarely are people with three children starting from scratch.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Yeah, it really did feel like that.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It just was, oh, we've lost.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Everything, not lost, choose chosen to you know. Yeah, even
the kids' favorite toys to some degree, you know, they
bought their very favorites, but other things we had to
let go and give away and donate, and so it
really was starting from scratch. My family helped a lot,
but yeah, we still had to find somewhere to live,
(13:29):
and yeah, it was challenging.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It's funny, I think there's a scale in psychology of
the emotional impact of big major events in your life,
and there's like a death of a close family member,
there's divorce. You know, there's like big expected things, and
moving house is one of them where your emotional and
physical base is means so much for your stability that
people are often like they move house and they're like,
why am I so tired? It's like, because you've uprooted
(13:53):
your entire life, you.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Crossed countries, cross countries, Yeah, and just didn't really have
a lot to land on on the other side in
terms of no house set up or anything like that.
So yeah, us with our seven suitcases rolling into all
of my family members houses for weeks on end was
a lot. And keeping the kids you know, sorted in
that time and making sure that they were okay was
a priority. So it just really was a lot to manage.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Do you think there's something about once you have made
that decision and you've relinquished sort of your old life,
let's call it, that's really liberating though that then allowed
you to go, wait, maybe I do want to do
this nursing thing. Like if I've thrown everything else out
of the window, I might as well.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Absolutely absolutely. It was kind of a total fresh start.
And part of the move was like, well, you know what,
maybe if I get into nursing at university, that'll be
the deciding factor to make the move. But we kind
of made the decision to do the move. And then
in the meantime of packing all the boxes and selling
the house, I got the email to say that I
was accepted to university and that was like, oh, but
I wasn't expecting that. Maybe I don't go next year
(14:57):
because that feels terrifying and soon and how am I
going to manage that? And in the end I just
went no, actually, I think I just need to do it.
This is it, Yeah, this is it. So you'd applied before, yeah,
I'd applied for not actually thinking that I would get
in because I didn't do university subjects in year twelve,
because I was like, I'm never going to go to university.
I's going to Canada for a gap year. I'll figure
it out later, it's going to be fine. And then
(15:19):
here I am in my mid thirties at university and like, wow, yeah,
how it's changed.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And so when you didn't have the prerex, I think
it's so easy to put up obstacles. It's like, well,
I don't have the requirement, I'm too old for this,
or it was too late for this. Like there's a
lot of risk a version built into the human psyche
for sure. How did you push through that?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Yeah, so i'd actually what was kind of funny, I'd
struggle with the timeline with the prerequisites. To get into
the Bachelor of Nursing at university, you have to have
done like science and maths and biology, and I hadn't
done those. So it was actually years before we decided
to make the move that I did the prerequis it's
online in Canada. Oh, I'd done the courses. I think
I must have been on maternity leave at some point,
(16:00):
and I kind of went, oh, yeah, nursing in the
back of my head, it's always in the back of
my head. Maybe I should just do those courses in
case I want to go at some point. Maybe I'll
do it in Canada. Oh that's not practical. And it
was this kind of thought in the back of my head.
But we didn't have any plans for me to go
to university. We couldn't afford me to go to university
in Canada. But I don't know, it's like something, It's
like something just got me. So I had done these
(16:21):
courses a long time ago, and I actually didn't think
they were still valid to get in. So that's why
I was surprised that I got in when I did,
because I thought I had to redo them that first year.
So it all worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
That also makes me think that you were thinking about
it for longer than you think you were.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
That's the thing. It must have just been twinging in
the back of my mind, was just waiting in the wings,
waiting in the wings.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And so you mentioned financially, it is a big endeavor
to move disease or to move back for you, but
then also to commit to studying as a mature age
student is another huge financial undertaking, even if you haven't
just crossed the world. How did your family prepare for
that financial shift?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, so it was huge. I was working, I mean
only part time, but you know, working, contributing to our mortgage,
all that kind of stuff. In canada's been working full time.
We were fortunate enough to own our own home, so
we sold that, but we fortunately haven't had to use
a lot of the money that we brought over. We
came here and yeah, my husband's working full time and
I'm doing a little bit of content creative work on
(17:21):
the side, so that actually really helps us and allows
me to be at university full time. And Australia is
so good about, you know, not having to pay your
student loans while you're studying. Yeah, whords in Canada you do,
which is crazy. As soon as you take out that loan,
you make for payments and it's like, oh my gosh,
could never Yeah, and my three kids are now in
school so we don't have daycare costs anymore. Yeah, which
(17:43):
is great. So yeah, we're just kind of muddling through.
Wait till we get to the end.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Okay, but tell me about the content creation.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
So about three years ago I started creating content on
It was just TikTok at the time, just living in
a mid sized body so as fourteen to sixteen gal
trying to find the right clothes, and I would often
send my sister's messages being like, oh these jeans, look
at these They're so great. People get sick of you
always saying like, you know, I'm totally a shoper Holly,
and I'm always like, oh my gosh, look at this sale.
Oh anyway, I started following people on TikTok that were
(18:11):
kind of doing that, and I was like, oh, there's
a lot of interest for this fun that I started
that and then yeah, maybe like you know, had a
few little bits going with that, and then a year
later kind of picked up. And then only a year
ago now I went over onto Instagram and that just
kind of blew up a little bit. So yeah, now
it's a lot of fun and a little extra income,
(18:34):
and yeah, takes up my time when studying is you know,
in break and holidays and all that jazz, and allows
me to be flexible with the kids, which is incredible.
I'm so fortunate.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
This is so cool because that's like another completely different pivot.
It's sort of as allowed you to be able to
fund your study and that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
It's so incredible. And I can share parts of my
journey on there because you know, a lot of people
follow me for like the mid size fashion fines kind
of and then they realize that I'm actually a nursing
student as well at university and they're like, oh my gosh,
I had no idea talk more about that. How did
that happen? What do you mean, you're doing this and
I'm like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
That's an interesting store of a thing. Well, both of
those things are also kind of putting yourself out there.
Like going back as a mature age student is a
bit overwhelming, and I know a lot of people find
it scary because you feel like you've forgotten how to
study or to take exams, and then everyone else around
you was younger. And then putting yourself out there on
(19:28):
social media. It's also very public, and it is nervy
to kind of post a video of yourself and put
yourself out there. This is the messy middle because there
are so many messy parts of trying something new. How
did you get through that fear of failure or judgment
or nerves.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Yeah, it's been a process for sure. Like I've always
been a chatty person, but not necessarily always a confident person. Yeah,
And I think part of me staying on TikTok for
so long was hiding. You know, no one I knew
as like a millennial was really on TikTok, so no
one knew I was there.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Y'are then never gonna find you?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
You're ever gonna find me. My sisters and my mum
didn't know. I was making videos on TikTok for a
months until it was like I had these new clothes
and I was like, oh, I'm kind of like ricking
these videos, but like, oh, it's a bit embarrassing. Don't
go look, don't do it. Don't do it. And then
university was like, yeah, hard to put yourself out there
because you arrive on the first day in classes and
it is a whole bunch of eighteen year olds and
(20:22):
go home to a home cooked meal by their mom.
You know, they get to go home like my kids
get to go but all the man, you're the mom
looking the dinner and making the lunch boxes before I
run off to class. So yeah, being at university, I
just kind of had to play that little mother role
a little bit. And then the content creation stuff, it's
just confidence is built over time. I go back and
watch those first videos and I'm basically whispering and I
(20:43):
don't know how anyone was understanding what I was saying,
but yeah, it's come with time, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
I always say, if you don't cringe at the earliest
versions of your work, like you're not doing the right thing, Yeah,
you haven't moved on enough you want to look at
it and go, wow, that's awful.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yes, I come a long way and thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
What would you say was the hardest bit for you
about the messy middle? Was it the sort of financial
was it trying things that are knew? Was it balancing motherhoods?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
I'm going to cry now. Oh no, I'm totally fine,
totally fine. It was my kids, yeah, yeah, making sure
that they felt home, right. Yeah, wherever we are is
home for them. But that was hard for them to
say goodbye to what they knew and what they loved,
and we were all starting fresh, and so much emotion
(21:33):
came with that. They're so settled now and they're so
wonderful and beautiful and happy, but they still miss so
much and we still miss so much. And yeah, no
matter where we are, someone misses out. That's always going
to be the way. So that was hard. It still
feels messy at times, eighteen months later, going oh gosh,
did we do the right thing? I know we did
(21:54):
the right thing, but that kid really misses that, and
my husband really misses that, and wow, but if we
were back there, a few of us would miss everything
here and it's just not easy messy is the right word.
So messy.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think anyone who has fallen in love overseas and
made a family will understand that split feeling of one
of you is always away from home.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
That's it just never gets easier.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And the beautiful thing is that you have created a
home that is you that you know. I think there's
that beautiful quote. Home is not a place, it's with
the people that.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
You love exactly exactly. So I've just tried to drum
that into the kids. And you know, they have a
beautiful kid life with all the sports and all the things,
and you know, much more opportunity here than they had
in us, much smaller kind of mountain town in Canada,
and we're going back for Christmas this year and that
would be wonderful and lovely and but yeah, it's it's
so different. It's just reminding them that no matter where
(22:53):
we are, as a family of five, we are okay,
and we have each other. So yeah, constant battle.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
But what a great adventure you've taken them on. Like, yeah,
I think one of the most amazing things you can
do for kids is show them the world's.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
People keep saying they will look back and remember what
you did, and how strong you were and how did
you make that decision? Mom? And you know what do
you mean? You moved us across the world. So I
just hope that, Yeah, that's exactly how it looks for them.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Absolutely, and it's definitely good for them to be able
to experience both families as well. If they've missed your
family all this time, to get some time with their
Aussie families, and we're going to beat those accents out
of absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Come on, they've got this y being at school with
a bunch of kids.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So what does life look like now? Like, what is
the average day for you now that you're in regional
New South Wales and you're nice and settled as an
Aussie family. Second year nursing student.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, so im in my second year now, so I'm
studying full time, so I'll only be three years, which
is really lovely. So one more year to go. My
final marks are almost back for this year, which is awesome,
But it's really just battling, Yeah, the constant push and
pull of needing to study and deadlines of assignments. So thankfully,
now that the kids are all at school, I'll drop
them off, get the day started. Come back and study,
(24:16):
knock out some assignments, get some pre course work done,
and then one to two days a week I'm at
the university, so you're going for labs where you learn
all of your physical skills. And then the hard parts
are when I'm out on placement, so at hospitals for
four to six weeks at a time, and you know
you're either seven to three or one to ten pm.
And yeah, battling with the kids with that kind of
(24:37):
movement is tricky, which you know, life will look like
that when I'm finished a little bit. So it's a
bit different. Training. Yeah, good training, good reality check. But
it's just finding the balance of yeah, the study time.
And my husband's very supportive. So on weekends if i
have something coming up, you know, it's like I'll take
the kids out, take three hours just to get that
assignment done or you know, whatever is ticking away in
(24:58):
the background. But my daughter would learn things with me,
and like, you know, we do palm cards together and
she'd be like, mom, the cranial nerves. What was that again?
And I'm like reading them out reputation She's like, you
got that one wrong? What about this? And I'm like, oh,
you're a gym. This is actually she's a genius. She's
a future nurse for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Actually you also have a family connection.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, So my grandma was a nurse. Loved it.
That was like what she think I'd come in here
and an emotional goal. This is my grandma passed away
during COVID. So that was one thing that I couldn't
get back for, right, I'm sorry anyway, No, it's okay.
(25:38):
She lived a beautiful, just lovely old age. She traveled
nursed a lot, and she was in England when the
Queen was coronated, and you know she's in these photos
and she was nursing over there and nursing in Australia.
She always looked at me and said, you're the nurse.
You're the nurse of the family. And I was like,
oh wow. And I think that was on my back right, No,
when I was taking those courses and working at the
(25:59):
medical office. So I'm like, I'm the nurse, but I
just can't get there, and how do I get there?
I want to do it so bad, I'm so interested,
but now I'm a mom of three kids, and how
do we make this work? So yeah, my grandma was
definitely in the back of my mind, and now here
I am like, I'm over halfway there, and thank goodness.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
She would be so proud.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah, she would be so proud. Yeah, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Finally there go Oh that's really beautiful.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah it is.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
As you mentioned, it is quite a shift based career
to move into. But when you do qualify, what will
your life look like?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Yeah, so it's hard to tell. Right now. I'm still
not super settled in what i want to do as
a nurse. So, you know, a lot of people ask
you and it's like, well, I'm still kind of trying
to figure it out. If you had asked me, you know,
a year ago, I would have said, oh, emergency or
a pediatrics And now, like, you know what, I don't know.
I don't think i'll work full time when I'm done,
just because of the kids and the content creating stuff
(26:51):
that I have on the side is fairly time consuming.
I think I'll end up working in a hospital in
some capacity. I would love to work in women's health.
That is my passion, absolute passion. So I'll have to
try and find a bit of a unicorn job, I think, so,
you know, try and make some connections over my next
kind of year in placement and see where that lands me.
But I'm sure I'll end up just being in the
(27:13):
hospital for a little while before I find my feet,
but certainly in a part time capacity and just trying
to juggle all the kid stuff with that while just
gaining experience.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
How does it work with specialization, Like do you have
to sort of streamline from the end of your career
or do you all graduate with the exact same nursing
degree and then you start to do rotations.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Yeah, that's exactly it. So everyone finishes with the same degree.
Some people may have had more practical hours in certain
areas depending on which hospitals they were placed at, but yeah,
you all kind of finish and then decide where you
want to go. So you can apply for like new
grad roles at hospitals in certain areas, but usually they
kind of funnel you into those roles that rotates for
a while until you find what you want to do.
Then you can do some extra training.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah, okay, so you've got time. You don't have to
decide like now, that's right.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
It doesn't have to be in a study time, thankfully,
so I can decide at the end and.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
When you did start studying. Obviously I was so busy
with the kids as well. But were you working from
the beginning? Did you work alongside.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
No, So I knew that full time study would be
a lot, which it really is. They say it's yeah,
five days a week study time and getting the kids
settled was really important. As I've said, so, I think
I knew that that would be a lot of work
in itself. But that's where the content creation came into
play because it allowed me, I guess that is my
part time job. You know, I have to start. I
have to start telling myself that that is you know,
(28:28):
that is my job. It may not be conventional, but
I do make money that way. So the flexibility of
that really helped in not having to go and get
a part time job. So that's helped along the way
for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
There are so many ways that social media gets a
bad rap, and of course there are risks and downsides,
but it has given so many people and a lot
of women, really amazing careers that are flexible.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Absolutely. I used to look at some of those creators
online and think, oh, my gosh, cool is that? Like, oh,
you just get to work from home? It's so flexible.
How fun is that? And now here I am going, Oh, like,
you can do it too, anyone can do it, have
a good idea post it. I promise you'll get there.
And it's been so worth it to stick with it.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Well, you did say that you feel like you're still
in the mess in all, but from the outside it
is extraordinary that you have been able to move an
entire family to the other side of the world, make
your beautiful children feel safe, and take a big leap
to go back to UNI and do something brand new.
That's a lot on your p but I think there
are a lot of other women out there, particularly in
(29:25):
our thirties, and I think it actually happens often on
Matt leave. It's the first time for many people that
they have stopped and gone, I want more, absolutely, or
I want something else, and you know what, I'm allowed
to have that. What advice, as someone who's done that,
would you give to any women who are listening and
feeling too scared or too held back to actually take
(29:48):
that step.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
Yeah, it's so hard, and I think it definitely takes
you know, a certain person to be confident in their
abilities and to wade through the messy stages, but you
just need to commit to it. I mean it took
me a while, right, you know. It was like fifteen
years after I finished high school and I was like, oh, yeah,
that's what I wanted. Yeah, so I'm not going to
(30:08):
be like, just do it, because I could have just
done it when I was twenty five too, and I didn't.
So it just took a lot of time. And I think,
just yeah, figuring it out in your mind. If you've
got something that you want to do and it doesn't
seem to be exiting your mind anytime soon, just explore it.
The more I explored it, and the more I found
out about it and how achievable and how many other
moms were studying. I think there's so many mums that
(30:30):
have babies and have seen the medical system truly, like
inside a hospital for the first time, like days on end,
and they kind of go, oh, yeah, that is kind
of what I want to do. So the more you
get exposed, the more interest you have. And it's just
about making the decision, finding family, support, finding friends, and yeah,
taking the leap.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
But of course at the time, you don't know it's
going to all work out, and that is a really
overwhelming emotion to sit with for anyone else who's listening
and who is in that still kind of hazy, blurry
pre move or pre pivot phase. What did you tell
yourself to get through it? How did you reassure yourself, actually,
(31:10):
it is going to be okay.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeah, there was a lot of moments of doubt, you know,
when our house hit the market and it wasn't selling
within the first few weeks even, and we went, oh,
my gosh, maybe it's not meant to be. But I
think the pool from my family from the other side
of the world, not that they never encouraged me to
move or to come home or any of that, but
recognizing the time that I had missed with them was
the pool that I needed. And then as soon as
(31:33):
we landed here, you know, it was so hard to
get here, but once you've made the decision to make
all the big changes and quit your job and you know,
sell the house, it was like, we're doing this, like
we're on the train when there's no turning back. Yeah,
we're going forward. So we just had to keep pushing
and it was hard and messy and emotional, but as
soon as we got here and we were embraced by
my family. I went, oh, this is it, you know,
summer nights with my kids playing with their cousins and
(31:56):
my mom dropping around with a meal for dinner, and
I went, oh, my gosh, I've missed this, like, this
is what I missed out on. And that's when you went, oh,
this is right, this is right to be here now.
The kids are young enough to you know, be adaptable,
and if it's been on your mind, it's one of
those things where I think you just have to experience it.
And it could have been wrong. You know, a year ago,
(32:18):
we could have said no, this was wrong, and I
would have been happy to be like, yep, we're wrong,
let's go home. Yeah, but you realize along the way
that there are those moments where you go, oh, yeah, no,
this is it, this is right. We itched the scratch
and it was so so worth it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I truly believe you can't be what you can't see.
You know, a couple of years ago, or a decade
ago or whatever, you wouldn't have seen that many examples
of women going back as mothers with children to start
from the beginning. But you are such an inspiring example
of that. Truly, back talking to sort of younger Georgia
before you pack that first box to move to Canada,
(32:53):
before you clicked on the application button to apply for nursing.
Is there anything you wish you knew then?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Oh, I don't know. I think maybe just a toll
it would take having kids in tow. I think that's
been the hardest part. I think if someone had told
me how hard that was going to be to try
and you know, resettle them and encourage them and make
them comfortable at a new school with new friends and
all that kind of stuff, or maybe it would have
been detrimental to think more about that. Yeah, I don't know,
Maybe maybe you wouldn't be here and maybe that was
(33:19):
the naivety that really got me there. But I think
that is the hurdle that I probably wish that I, yeah,
maybe opened up a little bit more about them prior
to us moving and you know, educating them on the
wise instead of trying to manage it after.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Interesting you use the word naivety because I actually think
it works in our favor.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Yeah, that's so true. Actually, that's so true because yeah,
as I was processing there and I'm like, oh no,
actually that worked. Yeah, because I wouldn't have done it,
Like exactly, if I really hadn't known, that wouldn't have
been a good idea.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
So has it all been worth it?
Speaker 4 (33:48):
It's been so worth it. O. I let think back,
and I'm like, imagine, if we didn't move, if we
didn't take the leap, we'd still be living the same life,
which was a wonderful, beautiful life. But the times that
I get with my family here are invaluable. And my
kids with their cousins who they would never never have
spent a lot of time with. The support is unimmeasurable.
And you know, being in Canada was fun and well,
(34:09):
and they would visit. But it's just been so worth
the experience. You know, even if I get to six
months from now and not graduate for some unforeseen reason,
it's all been so worth it, just going through the
process trying it so worth it.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Oh, I love that so much. And I can't wait
to see what the next chapter.
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Yes in store for you. Totally so many more things,
I'm sure who knows there's always something going on in
my brain.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Well, thank you so much for sharing it so openly,
all of us.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
That's all for this week's Pivot Club. If you are
loving these stories of reinvention, please hit that follow button
on your podcast app so you never miss a beat.
And if you know a mom who is thinking about studying,
or someone dreaming of a big move, send this episode
their way.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
It might be the sign they've been waiting for.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Pivot Club is produced by Sally Best, with audio production
by Tom Lyon. Our executive producer is Courtney Amenhauser. Thank
you so much for listening and I will catch you
next time.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Mumma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded on
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