Jersey sunset over St. Brelade during a jogging session.

My heart pounded in my chest as I commenced the climb back up the hill, the soft sea breeze gently caressing my gasping and beleagured breath. Oh yeah, jogging, I remember it now, the last time I had done any with any consistency was before I moved to Tokyo two years ago. But then again, I used to go to the gym at least 4 times a week, ride my bike near every day, I would skip rope, and I was a lean mean fighting machine of 40.

Currently I am a definitely stodgier man of 43, fighting a pretty bitter battle to get myself back in shape. Luckily I don’t give up easily, but hey I am not saying its easy.

Things come into our life to upset what we know as balance; new jobs, relationships, projects at work, having to move, whatever it is, you can count on things to shuffle now and then. We also have those moments when it happens and we accept the change, deciding to put things on hold until the immediate business at hand settles…..

And then suddenly its weeks, months, years, and the things that used to come to us so easily, become harder to pursue, because we know deep down that its just going to be hard to get back to the enjoyment part again, where its all balanced and peachy.

It takes time and effort. How many times have we heard that pearl, but its true.

My lungs were still screaming but the hill leveled off and suddenly I was on flat ground again, staggering more than jogging, but the steps becoming easier as I tried to concentrate on each one and enjoy the experience. Five minutes later, I was home, a big smile on my face because the the sun was shining and Jersey at this time of year is oh so lovely. Enough till tomorrow.

And then we start again. Someone once said, life wasn’t meant to be easy, but hey, lets enjoy the struggle!

That climb back from the beach will get easier…

That is the question they all asked me. Friends, family, co-workers, my partner. Why leave a secure, if not so exciting job with a successful company in Japan, with great sales results and a stable life, and move half way round the world to a little island in the English channel, parked right between France and the UK? Why risk the change, the searching for new work, the chaos it would wreak on my relationship and just the added stress of uprooting everything you have, and trying to replant myself somewhere else?

Its a good question, and I have, what is to me, a very obvious answer.

There is more to life than just work for work’s sake. You may have heard this question before, but it is one that is worth contemplating:

Live to work, or work to live?

In Japan, it is most definitely live to work, and for some of you out there, that might be fine. But for me, life is about balance, the enigma of trying to keep both your private and professional life in tune with each other, dynamically interacting.

For me, its definitely work to live. To help other people, to help each other reach our goals and share in the fruits of our labour.

I love to help people. I have been ‘coaching’ now for probably most of the last 15 years, when I discovered that I enjoyed helping people find themselves. I was the person they could talk to when they were about to make a big change, the person to check with as they went through their process, the person who would listen without judgment when things didn’t quite go as planned, and they needed to stop and re-think their strategy.

“Mark, you should really get into life coaching/ career counselling! You have so much to offer people!”

I would smile, and listen, nod my head and think, yeah that is something I definitely want to do, some day.

But that day never came, and I found that after five years of gutting it out in Japan, learning their culture, adopting their lifestyle and manifesting as the best foreign employee I could be, there was still something deep inside of me that said, there is something more to life than this, where you could be really helping other people.

Events had their way. My mother got sick and I started thinking about ways of getting her closer to me so that I could take care of her. My health was going down, and I started to feel aches and pains that were both physical as well as emotional. There are only so many 130% crowded trains you can take before the cracks start to appear…

I went to Europe on business, and was taken to this little island called Jersey to visit one of the Japanese company’s regional distributors there.

And that was it. From a man who has lived in more than 12 countries, I had a feeling.

Something that I could not rationally explain, but what I saw as a manifestation of balance around me. Jersey resonates. Work, environment, nature, of openness, of possibility. I also saw and met a lot of people who were obviously doing quite well in life ( what would you expect of an international off-shore banking community) but yet were still looking for something. A meaning to their lives, a way to justify it all and themselves, a direction, a reason. A way to keep going if nothing else.

Suddenly, I had this overwhelming desire to help them get there. To find the answers they sought. And in that process, I realized that in doing so, I would be helping myself. No longer was working 50 hours plus a week enough. Not the bright lights, not the exotic foods and high sales results.

I wanted balance back in my life, where I could share this precious thing we call existence with my partner, family and friends, and have an experience that I would regret on my death bed.

To live. To reap the harvest of our hard work and lives in a genuine way.

Then things just kept falling into place. When resigning from my job, the company asks me if I would be interested to stay on as their European consultant?

Would I ever.

Needless to say, my reasons weren’t explained to such detail, but changed I have, and here I am.

And that, as they say, is that.

Jersey. Hallelujah.