The Bit Nobody Talks About
Later this week, I’ll be flying home to the UK after eight weeks in Australia with my young grandchildren.
And if I’m honest, I’m already feeling the weight of leaving.
Anyone who has grandchildren living on the other side of the world will understand what I mean.
Children change so quickly and although eight weeks feels long when you arrive, it’s somehow impossibly short when it’s time to go home.
The little routines that become familiar will carry on without you.
The phrases they suddenly start using.
The games they want “again!”
The way they run towards you with a beaming smile when you walk into the room.
The small changes you notice almost daily when you’re with them.
And then comes the awareness that by the next time I see them, they’ll be different again.
A year in the life of a young child is enormous.
There’s a strange mixture of gratitude and sadness in that.
Gratitude for having shared this precious time together and sadness at knowing how much will change before we’re together again.
Holding On Whilst Letting Go
I’ve been thinking about how often life asks us to hold both joy and loss at the same time.
One doesn’t cancel out the other.
And perhaps that’s relevant to coaching too.
So many of the people I coach or mentor are navigating transitions of one kind or another. Sometimes those changes are obvious and sometimes they are harder to explain, even to themselves.
A leadership role that no longer feels right.
Children growing up and becoming more independent.
A business evolving or an identity shifting,
A growing awareness that a chapter of life is changing, even if they can’t quite name what comes next.
What I notice in coaching conversations is how often people want certainty in those moments. They want to know they’re making the right decision. They want reassurance that change won’t bring loss with it.
But meaningful change nearly always asks us to let go of something
Sometimes we have to let go of an old identity or an expectation we’ve carried for years. Sometimes we simply have to accept that life keeps moving, whether we are ready for it or not.
My Grandchildren Have Reminded Me….
Spending time with my grandchildren has reminded me how fleeting so many important moments are, especially in childhood.
And perhaps part of living well is learning to be fully present for those moments whilst we’re in them, rather than trying to freeze them in place.
I think that’s true in coaching conversations too.
The most meaningful moments are rarely forced. They appear briefly as a flash of insight, or a moment of honesty. A client suddenly seeing something differently.
And then the conversation moves on.
We can’t hold onto those moments forever either.
But we can fully meet them while they’re here.
As I Prepare to Leave
So as I prepare to head home later this week, I find myself holding both gratitude and sadness together.
And perhaps that’s simply part of loving people deeply across distance and time.
Until next time,
Cath
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