What the woods mean to me…
I have always loved nature. Even as a little girl I was fascinated by being outdoors. I always wanted to sleep in my tent and cook over the campfire. I loved staying at my aunt’s where there were dogs and fields and I could get muddy.
Fast forward a couple of decades and I’m living in the city in another country with a successful sustainability consulting business. My apartment is in the same house as my office and I’m travelling non-stop, not even unpacking my suitcase but just packing another one. Half-packed suitcases piled up everywhere, mirroring my untidy mind.
Before my 40th birthday, I moved to the edge of the woods. Putting some physical distance between myself and the office helped. I felt a lot calmer being able to look out at birds and trees and I was happy in a new relationship. The business was going really well with great clients and an amazing team but still I couldn’t shift the sense that things weren’t quite right.
On the surface, it looked good but inside I was struggling to find the meaning in what I was doing. I was exhausted. I felt disconnected and I worried that the years I had spent trying to make the world a better place had not made enough of a difference. Despite all our work, the environment was still in a mess. After the Brussels bombings in 2016, I felt my world and my confidence crumble. I turned inward.
Yet on I pushed, still travelling, speaking at conferences, writing and advising clients. It got harder to leave home each time. Until one day, with the naive wisdom of youth, my partner’s son asked “Do you actually live here?” As far as he could see, I was constantly leaving to the train station or the airport and never actually at home.
The question landed like a gut punch and not long after that, I decided to stop. I stepped out of my own business for a year to heal my exhausted mind and body and just come back to myself. During my sabbatical, I connected much more deeply to my sense of place. I went to the mountains and on retreats to deepen my mindfulness practice. But other than that, I stayed home. I became more peaceful and more connected to myself and the world around me. I got the dog I had always dreamed of, a funny little sheepdog called Bertie. He became my constant companion and the office dog once I went back to work.
And I did go back to work. But it felt like a struggle. I didn’t really want to travel and I had to force myself to go into the office. It was tough on the team. We did personal development work together and experimented with different approaches. While it had been amazing in my 30’s, I realised that managing a team wasn’t my work anymore.
So in 2019, I closed the office and scaled back the sustainability consulting business to where I could focus just on projects where I felt my contribution could make a real difference. And where I felt connected to the people I was working with. I dug deeper into credibility and leadership. After closing the office, I launched A walk in the woods to help guide leaders and business owners.
As an entrepreneur, leader and small business owner, I’ve been through all the ups and downs. Tremendous highs and scary lows. I know that when you feel disengaged and disconnected in the workplace, it affects your team, your family and your health. That when work no longer feels like it supports your values, it can be easier to distract yourself with more work and more travel until you come close to burnout.
Since changing how I work, I have so much more energy, focus and vitality. I’m more in touch with what I need. I’m focused on the work I feel called to do. My consulting work and community outreach go deeper and connect better. I believe that we all have what we need to connect deeply to our values and our work. Sometimes we just need some help to surface that need.
For entrepreneurs who feel stuck in their own business, I’ve been there. I’ve helped people navigate it and it is more common than you might think. If you work in a business or organisation and don’t feel valued, or you have a deep-seated longing to do something else but are afraid to change, I want to hear your story.
Sometimes having someone to talk to is enough. Other times, it takes deeper conversations and mentoring to move through the obstacles. I am here to help you find the j0y and meaning in life again. My mentoring practice comes from a place of lived experience combined with studies in ecopsychology and nature connection, as well as many years of business mentoring and leadership.
Fundamentally, I want to help. We’ll meet online and if we live close enough together, we will walk in the woods together. I also offer regular workshops on resilience, eco-anxiety, nature connection and more, online and in-person.
