Finding Kairos: The Hero’s Journey

Finding Kairos was born of a deep need to run away... or perhaps a deep need to feel found.

It’s a story we have all heard before: “I kept my head down, and was working so hard… and then one day I looked up and thought, ‘Where am I? How did I get here?” and the more terrifying thought, ‘Who am I anymore?”

This is the concentrated version of the story of Abigail Kochevar, Finding Kairos founder.

A high performing youngster, Abigail is no stranger to the “grind.” Abigail has been a successful musical theatre actress in Denver since 2014 and is consistently in back-to-back shows, often rehearsing one show while performing another. She has always known the only way to succeed was to keep her head down, and be “happy to be there, ready to work!” and for a long time, she was. She never took for granted the fortune and privilege she had in the performance industry. Knowing that not it took not only hard work and talent, but also a great deal of luck, and being in the right place at the right time.

2020 decimated the theatre community in a similar way to so many other professional communities, and without her routine she found herself- for the first time ever- enjoying the quiet of home, a slower pace of life, getting a chance to really process her days. Even though the world was buzzing with fear anxiety, something felt… better than the non-stop schedule of the previous years. But, despite this new appreciation for the mundane, the actress found her self busier than ever as soon as she could get back into the swing of things. Fast forward to February of 2023- after a serious relationship’s traumatic end, financial destitution, and a break in performing, we find Abigail trying to keep her head above water, thinking it would be easier to just move to another country and start a new life rather than persevere through the deep emotional and physical exhaustion of grieving the life had built. What else was there to do?

Enter a new career opportunity.

Abigail had taken a gap year after high school and traveled with a well known group from the ‘70s- Up with People. She met friends who became family and still keep in touch, had seen the world through the eyes of the people living in it rather than just staying in hotels and going on tours of the “picture perfect places” in the rural towns and huge cities she was visiting. But more than that she discovered a profound love and appreciation for the healing power of travel. So, when she was offered the opportunity to join her Aunt as a travel agent just a few minutes from her house? She felt that fleeting feeling of “rightness”- the right time, and the right place.

Plot twist- despite absolutely falling in love with her job and helping clients with their journeys, not all things were in alignment.

The corporate rigidity of bottom lines was not in alignment.

The obsession with credit cards and memberships and commission to the company, instead of the experience of the client was not in alignment.

The attitude of seeing those who were able to spend $20,000 in one appointment as more important than those looking to travel on a budget was not in alignment.

The realization that it would be considered “low priority” if she herself were to walk into her own office with her budget… certainly not in alignment

So what does a high performing workaholic with a love of travel, self discovery, performing, and helping others?

She creates.