Finding the Path
This week, I have slowly started the process of talking about my next global HR search firm, MattChapman². To be honest, I have taken my break very seriously since selling ChapmanCG in July 2022. Anyone who has visited me in New Zealand knows that I made this hiatus my full focus, resisting global life and distractions for more than three years. I felt I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to truly switch off and reinvent myself before deciding what I wanted for my future.
At the time, I could not even imagine if I would ever return to the search world. My focus was on enjoying my life and my projects in New Zealand, which kept me very busy but were also incredibly different to my pre-2022 life. Along the way, as visitors from around the world dropped by (especially a few HR leaders), my brain would start to wake up. People would say, "Wow, it is incredible to see what you’ve been doing." It taught me a powerful lesson: as much as the virtual world keeps us connected, seeing others in the flesh is the ultimate reality. Visitors often remarked on how healthy I looked, and I could often feel the hectic pace of my guests' lives overseas. Seeing the sense of relief that being in New Zealand gave them was a strong validation of the path I had chosen, though I always hoped they would keep a bit of that feeling with them when they flew home.
There were times in New Zealand when I would wake up questioning my direction, particularly if I switched on LinkedIn or Instagram and started comparing myself to others around the world. Life in the South Island, my new home, felt much more ordinary. However, ordinary was exactly what I liked and was drawn to. Having grown up in a small Australian town, I had done a complete arc in my life and gone back to my beginnings. As long as I didn’t get distracted, the path felt right. Still, it required a lot of self-belief to trust that what I was seeing was really what I wanted.
Each time I went back out into the world, I will admit I struggled. The world felt busy and distracted, and I often found myself cancelling trips midway through just to come back to the peace of New Zealand. This bugged me at times because, as a global citizen with a big network, I longed to tap back into the spirit that once had me backpacking and adventuring in extreme places. However, I sat patiently with that longing for simplicity, realising that my mind and body just needed a rest. Back home in New Zealand, I focused for three years on stable routines: lifting weights, stretching, good nutrition, and plenty of sleep. I leaned into careful habits, camping, sitting with boredom, and integrating deeply with my new culture and community. I became a "Kiwi," gave up my Singapore citizenship, and simply enjoyed the ordinary.
Of course, the ordinary in the South Island is anything but. It is a land of towering mountains, vast, empty valleys, and rugged people with deep life skills. Buying a van and getting out amongst it all gave me a rush. I realised I did not need to spend much to enjoy simple pleasures that brought me great happiness. Socialising took on a completely different form compared to elite Singapore or the global business fraternity. I gravitated towards the "happy hippies" in the well-being space and people with hobbies that were the polar opposite of my "Life 1." In this "Life 2," I have gotten into veggie gardening, bee-keeping, cooking, and even DJ lessons, breathwork, and ice baths. The list is still growing.
Eventually, in late 2025, the Re:Connect retreat at Parihoa brought global guests into my New Zealand world. It felt like the curtain call for that chapter of my life, and I realised there was something unique about joining these two worlds together. It felt like a natural calling, but beneath it all, I started to feel a new longing to return to a hybrid of my former life and my new one.
Reinvention only comes from taking time out, trying new things, and working out what you actually like. It is about refining your journey and experimenting with a new direction, knowing all the while that only you are in control of your future. That, a bit of luck, and perhaps the gods; but mostly, it is about setting the right intentions.