This photo captures one of my favourite memories from 2025.
It’s a selfie of me and my lovely husband Stu, taken in a pub garden in Grasmere.
It was the first time in a while that we’d been away just us - no teenagers, no dog - and this sums up the feeling of the experience.
When I look at it I smile - I can see our partnership, the fun, the team spirit, the ease and the love.
Recently, I spent 4 nights in Yorkshire on retreat. We were hunkered down in a cosy haven ‘on the tops’ with expansive views all around.
I always appreciate the time and space to take a step back from my daily life, and this time was especially helpful as it was a return visit.
I’d been to the same place with a number of the same people almost 2 years before. I could feel the difference between back then and this time - in them, in me, in my life, in how I related to those I knew and those I was meeting for the first time - and others could too.
I was surprised at the shift. For me the time in between retreats had felt more like evolution than revolution.
But of course, over time, it all adds up.
Every October for the last few years I’ve shared a photo of my younger self, part of the Inspiring Girls International #ThisLittleGirlIsMe campaign, along with the advice I’d give that younger me.
Each year a different picture has inspired different thoughts, and this time it’s me aged 4 ish, peering out of the window of a train carriage on the Bluebell railway. I look a little apprehensive, as though I’m not quite sure what the journey will bring.
This little girl is me, and here are 5 things I wish she knew for the journey of her life that lies ahead, with love from me to her.
For the next few weeks, I’m taking a summer break.
It’s a lovely time to step away from my everyday life, to have a change of scene and of rhythm, to pull out and see things from a different perspective, to move at a different pace, to explore new places.
It’s also the perfect time to reflect on some questions that need a little more spaciousness to noodle on - either in a focused way with pen and paper in hand, or percolating quietly in the background of my brain while I’m doing something else.
So, in place of a reflection this Monday, here are 10 reflective questions. I’ll be taking them with me - and if you like you can too. Maybe all of them, or pick and mix, or use them as a springboard to create your own :-)
Last Wednesday my husband and I dropped our dog off for a haircut and took a rare walk without him. It meant we started in a different place, and took some different paths. We had time to explore, and time to pause.
Stu had an urge to sit on a bench and we stopped by a lake. It was peaceful and calm, and we sat and absorbed the beauty of the view. We spoke quietly, only to point out the things we were noticing.
And the more we looked, the more there was to see and appreciate.
Last Sunday I found my way in the Lake District.
As someone who is not renowned for their sense of direction - and has often got lost when navigating solo - this is a relatively big deal for me!
The day before we had climbed Hallin Fell as a group, then Stu and I took the long way back - a beautiful loop alongside Ullswater.
The next day it was just me and the dog.
I wasn’t 100% sure I could find my way - but I really wanted to.
The last few weeks have been full of my favourite things - people and their career timelines.
I love collaborating with someone to look back and learn from their journey so far - to make sense of it and use the insights to shape the path ahead.
It’s a complete gift to be a part of the process. To see and hear someone’s story. To find the themes, the patterns, the ups and the downs. To spot the threads and create a compass to navigate forward with.
But what strikes me more and more is just how much there is to learn before we even start exploring the detail.
My sister recently reminded me of the time I spent 2 months living in a tent in the middle of Hungary, part of a group from Edinburgh University helping to build an eco-village.
For many years it was top of mind - my immediate answer to the ‘tell us something we wouldn’t know about you’ question.
And yet I had almost forgotten.
