August's diary

As a mother, the school new year of September always creates a more seismic shift in me personally as an end of year/beginning of a new one than the traditional January. This year is no exception.

Tomorrow my son goes back to school (his school always goes back insanely early) to start his final year in the sixth form and in 3 weeks’ time my daughter starts Exeter Uni reading Marine Biology. When they were diddy people I never really got, and rightly so, the concept of empty nest syndrome. Now I feel it profoundly and the older they get the quicker it is happening and the deeper I feel it - it’s primeval. This natural shift in the family dynamic brings an immediacy and sharp focus to ‘what about me?’ What’s next? It’s exciting, liberating and daunting in equal measure.

Last August I made the decision to close 2to3days. Closing a business was a new experience for me, so a daunting one. But I was adamant that I would do it in such a way that would enable me, when the time was right, to leverage all that I had achieved and learnt and take this into my next venture. A year ago, I didn’t have a clue what that would look like. I had lots of ideas and suggestions. I have always worked, so this past year has been an interesting one. I have been lost, very lost. It’s been challenging and emotionally painful because I associate so much of me with ‘the working me’. People kept asking me when I was setting up my next thing. Flattering but pressurizing - I felt as if I should immediately know. But I didn’t. As I say, I had ideas/concepts andhaving spoken to lots of people, lots of suggestions - some helpful some not. I felt alternately energised and knackered. But I came to realise that being lost is all part of the process. So, on that note it’s been a great year and I am now ready to get back out there and make stuff happen. This September, my ‘new year’ is shaping up to be a busy one.

But this is August’s diary. I am conscious that not everyone has the opportunity to go abroad, and I have a strong aversion to those people who feel compelled to share their holiday photos on social media. That’s not me. So, I will keep this brief and share just this one photo of us as a family climbing Sibayak, a volcano in Sumatra.

We went to Indonesia to be reunited with our daughter who had been traveling for 6 months. We met at Singapore airport - wow that’s an experience in itself, home to the world’s largest indoor waterfall, fishponds dotted all around plus a vast and exotic array of tropical plants peacefully draping many a wall. How cool is that. We then spent the next 2 and a bit weeks island hopping from Sumatra to Java to Lombok. We whizzed around the island of Samosir on scooters, visited the ancient ruins of Borobudur and Prambanan, swam in waterfalls, tried our hand at Indonesian cooking, snorkelled with turtles and drank far too much of the local lager, Bintang, whilst playing countless games of cards with our children. It was a holiday to remember, and we got our daughter home!

I have also finished (today) my eight-week introductory course to golf. It’s the world’s most frustrating game but I really enjoy it. I have a long long way to go but one of the reasons I started to play was so that I had something to do with my son. To my utter joy he is not embarrassed to be seen with me at the driving range so that’s a major win!

I have read:

• Forty rules of love by Elif Shafak – recommended to me by Mark Brown . A profound book about the essence of love, its teachings and what we all need and to learn as mere mortals on this planet.

• 100% Capacity by Jennifer Kenny – a serendipitous purchase at Jakarta’s airport but one of the best work books I have ever read about why and how our own leadership performance can help to create greater equality in the workplace. Well done Jennifer Kenny :)

• Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra which deeply resonates with me on a personal note as I am going through my own transition. But also it has provided me with so many insights and ideas to help me support other women going through a similar transition. Thank you Herminia Ibarra

All three books have deepened my understanding of me and fueled my ambition to help women advance their careers and their businesses on terms that work for them.

I am now off for a walk on the beach and a dip in the sea! Until September take care and enjoy this glorious India summer.

Ps The photo at the beginning is of my daughter and I before we went line dancing in our village hall last Saturday - I never in a million years thought she would say yes, but she did. A moment to cherish. Life is made up of moments.