'I went back to uni with three primary school-aged kids. Here's what I wish I knew earlier.'

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Georgia never meant to stay in Canada for 14 years.

She packed a bag for a gap year, headed to the ski slopes, and accidentally built an entire life. A husband who was a fellow ski patroller. A mortgage. Three children. The kind of expat dream that looks perfect on paper.

But when COVID-19 hit and she couldn't get home for family events, something shifted.

"My mentality, being in Canada away from all of my family, was, I'm just a flight away. If anything happens, I can jump on a plane; I'll be there in 24 hours. And then COVID hit, and a few family events happened, and I could not get home, and it was just so hard."

That realisation — that being a flight away was actually being a world away — became the catalyst. Georgia and her Canadian husband sold their house, quit their jobs, and moved their family of five to regional NSW with seven suitcases between them.

And, she enrolled at university to become a nurse. As a mature-age student. With three primary school-aged children in tow.

Watch: The five-step framework for career pivoting. Post continues below.

The secret rebellion.

Canadian life before the move. Image: Supplied.

The nursing dream had been simmering for years. Working at a medical office in Canada, Georgia found herself more fascinated by what the doctors were doing than her actual job.

"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 studying in Canada as a foreign student felt impossible. Three young children. Unaffordable. No prerequisites.

Then came the quiet act of rebellion: during maternity leave, Georgia enrolled in science and maths courses online. Not because they had plans to move. Not because she'd even decided to apply. Just in case.

"Nursing was always at the back of my mind. I thought 'maybe I should just do those courses in case I want to go at some point'. We didn't have any plans for me to go to university."

Years later, while packing boxes to move countries, the university acceptance email arrived. Suddenly, it was real, terrifying, and completely the wrong timing.

"I got the email to say that I was accepted to university, and that was like, but I wasn't expecting that. Maybe I won't go next year because that feels terrifying and soon. And in the end, I just went, 'no, actually, I think I just need to do it. This is it'."

Seven suitcases and a dream.

They landed in Australia with no house secured, no employment history and nothing but a heartfelt letter to convince a landlord to take a chance on them. The family cycled through relatives' houses for weeks.

"We literally got here and had to start everything from the fork in the drawer to the picture on the wall."

The kids left behind their favourite toys, friends, school, cousins. One side of the family would always miss out, no matter where they landed. Eighteen months later, Georgia still grapples with that.

"That was hard. It still feels messy at times, thinking, 'oh gosh, did we do the right thing?' I know we did the right thing, but one of the kids really misses this, and my husband really misses that."

But those summer nights with cousins, her mum dropping around with dinner — it confirmed everything.

"I went, 'oh my gosh, I've missed this'. Like, this is what I missed out on. And that's when you think, 'oh, this is right'."

The 18-year-old problem.

Walking into her first university class was its own culture shock.

"You arrive on the first day, and it is a whole bunch of 18-year-olds that go home to a home-cooked meal by their mum. I'm the mum. I'm the one cooking the dinner and making the lunchboxes before I run off to class."

The juggle is relentless. School drop-offs, then study. Campus labs one to two days a week. Hospital placements for four to six weeks at a time — sometimes 7am to 10pm shifts.

Her husband takes the kids on weekends so she can finish assignments. Her daughter quizzes her on flashcards about cranial nerves.

"They say it's five days a week study time," Georgia says of the full-time nursing degree.

The unexpected saviour? Content creation. What started three years ago as sharing mid-size fashion finds on TikTok has become a flexible income stream that doesn't require her to work set hours.

"I have to start telling myself that it's my job. It may not be conventional, but I do make money that way."

Listen: Georgia's full story on Pivot Club. Post continues below.

The thing she wishes she'd known.

The hardest part wasn't the financial risk or the study load. It was watching her kids navigate the upheaval.

"Making sure that they felt at home. Wherever we are is home for them, but it was hard for them to say goodbye to what they knew and what they loved."

If she could tell younger Georgia anything? Maybe about the emotional toll of moving children across the world. But then again, maybe that ignorance was exactly what she needed.

"Maybe that was the naivety that really got me there. If I really had known, that wouldn't have been a good idea."

Sometimes, not knowing how hard something will be is the only reason you're brave enough to try.

The grandmother connection.

There's a detail that makes Georgia tear up every time. Her grandmother was a nurse who travelled the world, working in England when the Queen was coronated. She always told Georgia: "You're the nurse of the family."

Her grandmother passed away during COVID, another moment when Georgia couldn't get home.

"I was taking those courses and working at the medical office thinking, 'I'm the nurse' but I just can't get there. Now I'm over halfway there, and thank goodness she would be so proud."

Was it worth it?

Georgia is now in her second year, still figuring out her speciality — emergency, paediatrics, women's health. But she's certain of one thing: even if it all fell apart tomorrow, even if she didn't graduate, it would still have been worth it.

"It's all been so worth it, just going through the process, trying it. If we didn't take the leap, we'd still be living the same life, which was a wonderful, beautiful life. But the time that I get with my family here is invaluable."

For anyone sitting with that pull toward something more, Georgia's advice is simple: if it won't leave your mind, explore it.

"The more I explored it, and the more I found out about how achievable it was and how many other mums were studying... It's just about making the decision, finding family support, and taking the leap.

"But of course, at the time, you don't know it's gonna all work out, and that is a really overwhelming emotion to sit with.

"We itched the scratch, and it was so, so worth it."

Feature Image: Supplied.

You can follow Georgia on TikTok and Instagram.