Another Year Older. And Another Year Deeper Into Myself.
Another year older. But perhaps more importantly, another year deeper into myself.
I know what it is to be in the middle of a difficult season.
I know what it is to carry things people can't see.
I've done my own work. I'm still doing my work.
And now I create spaces where other people can do theirs.
Hence today's Sunday Soul.
As I celebrated my birthday this week, I'm not thinking so much about how old I am.
I'm thinking about how far I've come.
This week's Coaching Conversation on Golden Mic Radio was a conversation with Renee Chetty, and it stayed with me long after the microphones were off.
We spoke about something I know too well - retrenchment.
But it wasn't just about retrenchment.
We spoke about what happens when one chapter ends and you don't yet know what the next one looks like. About identity. Uncertainty. The internal conversations we have with ourselves. Faith. Hope.
And finding your way through a season you didn't necessarily choose.
And somewhere in that conversation, I found myself taken back to my own retrenchment in 2018.
The truth is it hurt.
It wasn't simply losing a job.
There were wounds around identity, security, confidence, relationships, money and my sense of what the future was supposed to look like.
And some of those wounds took time to even recognise.
For a long time, I think I measured resilience by how quickly I could get back up.
But I have been seeing it differently and on Wednesday, I was reminded of that.
Resilience isn't always about getting back to who you were.
Sometimes it's about becoming someone who can hold what happened, learn from it, and still choose to move forward. To keep becoming.
It isn't.
But today I can look at the woman who walked through that season and say:
Girl, look at you.
You went through a lot.
And you're still here.
Not just surviving.
Growing. Willing. Learning. Loving. Building. Becoming.
And, in so many ways, beautifully thriving in the life you are living now.
This conversation also reminded me of why I do what I do.
Because I know what it feels like to be in the space between what was and what's next.
I know what it feels like when the external circumstances change and the internal work begins.
And perhaps that's why I'm so passionate about helping people notice what is happening beneath the surface — the things that don't always show up on a CV, in a performance review, or in the version of ourselves we present to the world.
That invisible part matters.
Our wellbeing matters. Our internal world matters. And the way we move through change matters.
Today, I'm grateful for the woman I was.
Compassionate towards the woman who had to walk through it.
And deeply grateful for the woman I am becoming.
I'm grateful for conversations like the one I had with Renee - because sometimes someone else's story becomes a mirror.
A reminder of where you've been.
A reminder of how far you've come.
And a reminder that a new beginning doesn't always mean starting from scratch.
Sometimes it means looking back and finally recognising just how much you've grown.
Perhaps that's what we're being invited to do in our own seasons.
To pause.
To look back at the woman we've been.
To acknowledge what she carried.
To recognise how much she's grown.
And to express gratitude for the woman we are today.
So, as I step into another year, I don't have everything figured out.
But I have something I didn't have before.
Anchored Perspective.
And gratitude filled with love.
And a deeper appreciation for the journey that brought me here.
And perhaps that's enough for this season.
🌱 The conversation continues.
On 26 September, I'll be creating space for us to explore more of this work around wellbeing, resilience, and what it means to build a life and way of working that doesn't cost us our wellbeing.
If this speaks to where you are in your own season, I'd love to have you there.
And if today's reflection resonates with you, let's connect.
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