I first wrote this post over on Substack at the beginning of 2024, and – being in the work I am in – I have naturally been reflecting on things. This is still just as relevant so sharing here.
My start to 2024 was probably the brightest, shiniest example of the multi-hyphenate of my work life. I travelled to Melbourne to deliver three and a half days of intensive training to a corporate client [my Embodied Leaders Academy covers emotional intelligence, communication, and nervous system education to assist in stress management and mitigation].
From there, I came back with a small dose of c*vid. [And once I recovered] I was all the while having one on one mentoring sessions with recruiters I work with as a support, and supporting the directors in an Executive Strategy planning day for projects across the whole year.
Meanwhile, I’m taking active steps [with the assistance of my own 1:1 coach] to carve out deliberately ritualistic times of creativity to fulfill some serious urges happening there.
And yes, tending to and enjoying my home life in all that.
Can anyone spot the AuDHD-er yet?
One of the biggest challenges I have sometimes is how to answer the question “so what do you do?” In the grand scheme of things, it’s for sure not an actual problem.
But maybe it’s something you’ve rubbed up against as well?
Here’s my take…
Some people work incredibly well with one path they’ve really niched down on. [Genuinely] go you!
Others, like myself, get more zest outta life when indulging in the tapestry of it all.
And a tapestry it truly is.
If you’re a fellow tapestry weaver of your own life [which is exactly all of us, in some way or another], you need to believe in the unfolding of the pieces; the different strands and colours of wool that are making up the bigger picture.
As if I could have known that the small urge to do my yoga teacher training, even though “it’s not like I want to actually teach or anything” [lol] would have led me to creating something so much more meaningful in my work than that or my corporate experience alone could have ever brought me.
As if baby Jess who decided, seemingly, on a whim to change her university degree to a double, adding in the PR aspect, could have known that what she was taking super literally in the definition of ‘public relations’ would be something that, 14 years later, is the actual manifestation of that literal definition in her little heart.
The wools and colours weave the way they do, and sometimes it doesn’t make sense in the moment. Sometimes you get people telling you that you’re impulsive, or audacious to be doing so much that delights you [it was meant in no uncertain terms that was because I am a woman], or to just pick the easy path. No other path seemed easy though. Not to me, who is so loyal and dedicated when I do choose a path, but cannot be in spaces that give me… you know, that feeling.
Follow the steps. There will be plenty of hard work in them anyway. Follow them through, and I know your tapestry will be as vibrant as you.
It’s my intention to share more here about the journey of my work and life, in ways that are in some way useful; however that usefulness comes.
I’m so glad and honoured to have you here, reading these words.
