Learning from Experience

#ThisLittleGirlIsMe | 2025

#ThisLittleGirlIsMe | 2025

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.

What have been your best decisions?

What have been your best decisions?

I used to think that every decision could be made logically, until I looked back and realised that all my best ones were made in a different way!

They were the decisions that felt completely right - even if they looked brave or risky to others.

They took me on gap years and solo travel adventures, led me to reapply for Marketing training schemes when I didn’t make it the first time, helped me leave a job I loved (twice) to explore a new path, and so much more.

But for a long time, I couldn’t articulate how I made them.

Do you ever look back at a past version of you and think - did I really do that?!

Do you ever look back at a past version of you and think - did I really do that?!

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.

Just because you started...

Just because you started...

I have been a great completer finisher in my life.

Sometimes when it really would have been wiser to stop.

I’ve trained through injury, I’ve stayed too long in roles that no longer fit me, I’ve chosen to ‘push through’ when really, I needed to stop and regroup.

 

I’ve also started things that felt like a wonderful idea at the time - before I realised what the process would be like - and then felt I had to see it through.

 

So, it’s been a complete gift to realise that I don’t have to finish everything I start.

And that I often learn just as much from the things I stop as the things I complete.

It’s all useful data.

Is it you, or is it the situation?

Is it you, or is it the situation?

I’m a big fan of creating clarity from the inside out.

Of shining a spotlight inside to light the way ahead.

Of getting super clear about who we are on the inside, so we can create the life we want on the outside.

It’s what got me into coaching in the first place.

And yet…

Sometimes, it’s not an inside job.

Sometimes, it’s the situation.

Who were you 12 years ago?

Who were you 12 years ago?

Who were you 12 years ago?

Where were you, and what were you doing?

What was your life like?

So much can change in our life over time.

Our circumstances, our surroundings, the people in our world, what we want, what works for us, how we like to spend our time and energy, what and who we value and appreciate - all can change.

You are not the same person you were 12 years ago, 7 years ago, 1 year ago - even last month or last week.

And neither are the people around you.

And yet it’s so easy to miss the changes. Unless we stop, take stock, notice and appreciate them.

What's been the story of your year?

What's been the story of your year?

“The Pause is the full stop that allows us to consider the next sentence of our lives”

I love this quote by Danielle North, and it feels especially relevant right now, as we head into the darkest nights and festive break, ahead of a New Year.

With this as inspiration, it’s become a tradition for my husband and I sit down with our family calendar at the end of December, to take a look back at the year and reflect on what’s happened.

Where did we go? What did we do? What were the big events and the little memories? We are always astonished at how much we have already forgotten about!

We give the year a theme or a title, and then look forward with a light touch - what will the coming year bring? What would we like it to be like?

Some years the process has been painful with loss, other times rich in learning, often we have marvelled at the sheer amount of change.

It always brings insight and a sense of grounding.