Our May guest speaker was Beth-Ann Kozlovich who beautifully entitled her talk, “Living with Purpose, Living the Why, and Navigating Those Challenges”. Her story and thoughts came from reflecting on leading with a purpose, this year’s theme.
What is our purpose? What is our why? These are questions we each should take time to consider and reflect on. Many may remember Beth-Ann from Hawaii Public Radio where her job was to speak out about some really challenging topics. Her work had tremendous purpose and guided her to her current position.
In her new role at Kahi Mohala as the Senior Development Officer, she expressed that her new work, where she advocates, educates, and raises support for resources to address mental health in Hawaii, has become her why. Her new position and direction drew out her purpose and why because it allowed her to share about and direct her work from personal experience. Throughout her career, she had often talked about homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. In a true act of vulnerability, she shared that never in her wildest dreams would she think it could happen to a loved one. The journey she and her family continues to navigate pushed the need to understand the interconnectedness between mental health and mental illness. Although Beth-Ann came to the realization that her loved one was navigating a different path should could no longer impact, she knew that in her new position, she could be a resource and support for others who had family members who were in a similar situation.
Beth-Ann’s role at Kahi Mohala magnified her why, the role for her work, and the work of the organization. On March 6, 2020, when Governor Ige announced the first positive COVID case in Hawaii, her new why was layered with how we as individuals were doing and coping with mental health challenges and illness amid a pandemic and the isolation associated with it. The work Beth-Ann continues to do with Kahi Mohala has helped her continue her pursuit of her why. She now reflects that her purpose and why was less about educating and opening people’s minds up intellectually, but more about hearing, uplifting, and helping people in communities to find their way forward to understand that their big why is wrapped around issues of health and wellbeing.
During the last 5-6 years, Beth-Ann noticed that her purpose and big why began to show up more. It may have changed day to day and looking back it may have appeared to have changed a lot. Through it all, she leaves us with some lessons she learned about herself and the process:
Being “okay” and your “good enough” is enough.
At times we may feel like we need to have all the answers and it feels like we’re not the best ________ (e.g., teammate, worker, leader, etc.) because we don’t have all those answers, but sit with this uncertainty because the answers may avail itself along our journey.
Trust what hasn’t shown up yet or what you can’t do yet or haven’t done yet.
Your why may not be what you expect, but once you find it, it will reveal a lot of the real you.
People become more of who they are, not less, and we each need to pay closer attention to what allows us to be authentic.
Ask the tough questions, listen to the answers, and seek clarity in what it means to live your why.
Don’t be afraid to navigate all the challenges that come with navigating to your why.
Don’t forget to “Keep Calm and Carry On”.