It's been nearly two months since I've worked for anyone.

My days are gorgeously varied. I can wake, walk the dog, gather rosemary and oranges growing over fences, make a syrup from them to steep overnight. I can teach my friend's baby to say “cheers”, I can cook eggplant curry 3 times until it tastes like the one I had when I was in school. I can go for hikes in the middle of the week, explore the food markets of Western Sydney, and listen to friends talk about their problems without trying to solve them.

Now, when I walk the dog, I am not spending the whole walk sending voice-to-text Teams messages. My day is not defined by how hard the conversations I have to have are.

It’s taking time to get used to this. I am used to pushing myself extremely hard. The rhythm of my life was a frantic drumbeat, ignoring my own physical and mental needs because I was so driven to do well by others, to do good work, and to handle those around me with care. I wasn't a prisoner either - that is what I chose and what I wanted, and I derived a huge amount of satisfaction from it

I also really miss the people.

Sure, I’m lucky enough to still be in touch with many of them. But we spent our days tackling challenges, building for the future, nurturing culture and encouraging each other to be better, and that’s what I miss.

Luckily, that’s in my future again soon.

I have been spending most of my time working on my business. It is focused on leadership, and is launching very soon. It’s not like anything else out there, and that’s because I think we can do better by and for leaders. As a leader, there were certain challenges that I noticed going in the “I’ll get to that later” basket more often than not, but over time, not dealing with these things was holding teams and individuals back.

If you’re in the corporate world, you’re not imagining it - work does feel harder lately.

As a leader, I had the same struggles every leader has. External pressure that could feel like a vice closing in, competing with ever-increasing internal load. People issues that felt like a line out the door of problems without solutions. I don't think every team faces identical problems, but I think they all need the same thing underneath: the ability to think clearly when it's hardest to.

What I'm building will support teams to make shifts so that they can carry all this with more ease.
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​And I get to share it with you all soon!​
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In the midst of all of this, I'm about to step away from all of it for a few weeks for an actual holiday that was booked last year. I’ll be diving but I’ll also be exploring a new place and culture with amazing people. I’m going to a land that has had a relationship with Australia since long before recorded history, bridging the Torres Strait with culture and trade exchange.

Australia is a colony, but for a period of time was also a coloniser, occupying parts of Papua New Guinea for over 70 years. Niugini is our close neighbour but one that feels far away, and I’m so excited to spend time in a remote part of it.

For now - if you’re following along, I'd love to hear from you about what’s feeling heavy in your leadership work these days.

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