On cycles, courage, and letting go of ‘linear’
This week marks three years since launching Root Beginnings.
I remember clicking ‘send’ on my first ever newsletter. It was a real “feel the fear and do it anyway” moment.
And I’m so glad I did.
Before you read on, take thirty seconds to think about one of these: something you celebrated recently, or a “feel the fear and do it anyway” moment. Whichever one comes to mind — why that one? What made it significant? What did it teach you?
For those of you who have worked with me, you’ll know how much I emphasise celebrating and paying attention to the seemingly smaller moments.
These are the moments we often bury or push past. But in truth, they’re the moments that teach us what we’re capable of. We learn more about ourselves each time we recognise them and pay attention.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, (Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School) reminds us: “Our lives are all too often lived under the constraints of habits and conditioning that we are entirely unaware of but which shape our moments and our choices, our experiences, and our emotional responses to them — even when we think we know better.”
Reflecting on this journey, I knew from the start that my mission was to create intentional spaces for transformation.
Protected spaces for personal growth and self-discovery.
I just didn’t know how.
So I came up with a philosophy I’ve stuck by ever since:
🍃 Return to the root of what matters
🍃 Get clear on your why
🍃 Untangle the how step by step
This brave little business has taken me on a journey I could never have imagined. In joyful and more challenging ways. The ups, downs, side steps, twists, turns…
- Piloting seasonal workshops with small groups
- Coaching and building new skills
- Volunteering at the Community Mental Health Hub
- Taking a temp job at a restaurant to help with finances
- Leading AI integration in a global newsroom
- Travelling to India and Colombia teaching and running retreats
- Collaborating with and joining incredible communities
One thing this business has continued to challenge is my old beliefs about success and linear trajectories.
Time in nature and self-reflection keeps refreshing that belief — true fulfilment comes from aligning with our own values, not external expectations.
When we see ourselves holistically, loving all the experiences that make us who we are, we realise there’s nothing natural about ‘linear’ at all.
Nature moves in cycles. So do we.
Three years in, that’s the one lesson that’s really stuck: growth was never going to be a straight line. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
