Coming Full Circle

It started in a pretty dark place, if I'm being truthful. A place I recognised because I'd been there before, during my divorce. It's difficult to explain what that feels like unless you've experienced it yourself. You can carry on with everyday life, do the things you're supposed to do, and yet somewhere inside, things just don't feel right.

During COVID, I found myself back in that place. But this time something was different. Rather than simply trying to find my way out of it, I began looking a little more closely at myself. Who was I? What was important to me? Why did I think and behave the way I did? And what did I actually want from my life?

I started discovering parts of myself that I hadn't really taken the time to understand before. And somewhere along that journey, I discovered coaching.

What struck me about coaching was that it wasn't about somebody telling me what to do or giving me all the answers. It was about having the space to think, to question, to explore things that perhaps I'd been avoiding for years. And I began to understand just how powerful that could be.

That discovery eventually led me to TikTok, of all places, where I found a community of people I could connect with, talk to and learn from. I started going live, sometimes with no particular plan other than to show up and have a conversation. It gave me somewhere to practise what I was learning, but it also gave me something I hadn't realised I was missing. A sense of community.

And those conversations taught me an enormous amount. Not just about other people, but about myself.

Over time, my curiosity grew. I wanted to understand more about coaching, about people and about how we navigate the different stages of our lives. I began interviewing people, listening to their experiences and learning from their wisdom. One thing led to another, and eventually the idea for Your Life, Your Call began to take shape.

What started as a personal journey had slowly become something much bigger. A business, a platform and a place where people could find space to reflect, explore their own questions and, if they wanted to, connect with a coach.

And as I've been so focused on building all of this, I've recently realised something.

I've missed my community.

The very people and conversations that helped me discover this path in the first place.

So now I find myself coming back. Back to those conversations, back to going live, back to simply being present with people. But I'm not quite the same person who first turned on that camera.

I've learned a great deal over these past few years, and I'm still learning. Every day something happens that makes me question myself, understand something differently or recognise a behaviour I hadn't noticed before. Sometimes those lessons are uncomfortable. Sometimes they're quite funny. And sometimes I wonder why it's taken me 58 years to see something that now seems so obvious.

But I think that's what I'm beginning to appreciate about this journey. There isn't really a finishing line.

And this time, when I show up for my community, I'm bringing more of what I've discovered along the way. Not just myself and a conversation, but the platform I've built, the people I've interviewed, their experiences and the knowledge I've gathered. Things that might give somebody else a little space to think about their own life.

I'm also beginning to understand that showing up for other people starts with how I show up for myself. Being aware of where I am, what I need and what I'm learning. Because I can't share what I haven't taken the time to understand.

It's strange when I think about it. Something that began during one of the most difficult periods of my life has brought me back to something as simple as sitting down and having a conversation with another human being.

Only now, there's a little more behind that conversation.

So perhaps that's what I'd like to leave you with this Sunday.