For a long time, much of my work has centred around helping people notice when something is shifting — and giving themselves permission to imagine what might come next.
I’ve written before about the importance of vision. Not the glossy, five-year-plan kind, but the quieter kind that begins with a question rather than an answer. And about the shift from “why not?” to “what if?” — the moment when curiosity starts to replace self-doubt.
I’ve supported it in my work with clients but also personally experienced the power in following the muse when it shows up. In 2013 our family took a year out to live in the South Island. You can read about how that came to pass in my past blog here
What’s Next?
As 2026 begins I am about to bring a new vision to life as my husband and I will be taking a two month sabbatical. We’ll be travelling around Te Waipounamu, the South Island in a camper van, working remotely as we go. There’s no dramatic backstory to this decision. Nothing is broken. Nothing is being escaped.
It’s simply the next right step for us.
What’s interesting is how familiar the internal process has felt. Noticing. Curious questions. The gentle pull towards something that feels more aligned with how we want to live and work in the future.
This decision didn’t arrive fully formed. It started as a quiet idea — a what if. What if we created more space? What if we worked differently for a while? What if we trusted that clarity doesn’t always come before movement, but sometimes because of it?
Like many people I work with, I could easily have talked myself out of it. There were sensible reasons to stay put, to keep things exactly as they were. And for a while, those voices had a lot to say.
But over time, the vision became clearer — not in detail, but in feeling. A step out of the everyday. More time to explore our country without time restrictions. Work that remained meaningful, but sat more comfortably alongside life rather than crowding it for a while.
That’s often how real sustainable change works. Not as a sudden pivot, but as a gradual alignment.
This sabbatical marks a transition, not just personally, but professionally as well. It’s creating space for me to reflect on how I want the next phase of my work to unfold — what I want to carry forward, and what I’m ready to loosen my grip on.
In many ways, it mirrors the journey I see so often in the people I work with. A point where the old way still works well enough, but no longer fits as comfortably. Where experience is rich, but energy needs to be used more deliberately. Where vision becomes less about ambition, and more about sustainability.
I don’t have all the answers about what this next phase will look like — and that feels okay. What I do have is a sense of direction, and a willingness to keep listening as it unfolds.
While professional supervision and work wellbeing coaching remain at the heart of what I offer, this time away is creating space for something else to take shape alongside them — in a way that feels more aligned with how I want to live and work going forward.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that meaningful change doesn’t require certainty. It requires honesty, curiosity, and the courage to follow what feels quietly right.
This journey feels like that.
A gentle reflection:
- Where might you be standing at the edge of a what if?
- What kind of future are you allowing yourself to imagine?
