Reaching 10 years freelance feels like reaching a summit.
It reminds me of when we climbed to the top of our local mountains in Tibet, and saw an even bigger and more magnificent range beyond.
Beautiful- and daunting.
And that’s why I need a sabbatical!
The autumn began in its usual rhythm – guiding four people through a 6-day silent retreat in Mirfield. It was as graceful an experience as ever.
Late November took me to Ludwigshafen am Rhein for Part One of a formation of facilitators; a new programme that was 18 months in design, preparing people to facilitate communal discernment processes.
Despite feeling a bit of a numpty for my total lack of German, our team of three brought our (very!) disparate skills and experience together to create and then co-facilitate a prototype for a diverse, talented and open-hearted group of serving leaders and facilitators (finishing with a team moment at Speyer Christmas Market).
In January, after a facilitation in Rome, I took a train to Venice to make my own 8-day silent retreat. I needed this (possibly even more than usual, although I suspect I always say that!) after 14 months of intense and stretching work since my last complete stop. It was illuminating, heartening and confronting in equal measure.
It was a treat, then, to return to the same people in Ludwigshafen in February for Formation of Facilitators Part Two; it makes such a huge difference entering into a rather daunting task when you already know and thoroughly enjoy the group.
During this half-year there has also been a lot of turnover in my 1-2-1 pool, with several people completing and quite a lot of new people starting (pleasingly from five different continents, now that I look in detail!).
The privilege of accompanying such GOOD people takes my breath away sometimes.
Highest earning year. It happens often that freelancers’ best years of work aren’t the best paid-
so it was very pleasing to hit both simultaneously this year.
1, The future of leadership. Whether it’s coaching leaders, facilitating leadership teams, designing leadership retreats or programmes, or working on articles, it’s so clear that the complexity of leading in these times continues to increase. The external challenges are visible, but I’m not sure the internal challenges aren’t even greater. In a world where expectations are sky-high, and online consequence-free critiquing is the norm, how do leaders stay centred? How do they resource themselves? How do they stay clear in values of thoughtful truth and realistic hope, when cynicism and despair seem inevitable or cannier? And perhaps most of all, how can they lead well and with integrity in circumstances inimical to their people’s good?
2, Peers. I’m well aware of how extraordinary my peers are, but choosing 10 images to represent these 10 years was an eye-opener. The “here I am working/ up on stage” photos pale next to the “here we are together planning for/ during/ after that incredible event”. Those are the images with the joy bubbling out.
In June I will accompany on my 50th retreat, at St Beuno’s.
Then it’s another Mirfield retreat in August, an ongoing leadership team facilitation in Italy in September and some lovely family and friend occasions interspersed throughout the summer, including the wedding of a really beloved schoolfriend.
At the beginning of November I will head to Loyola in the Basque country for a celebration of a merger I have been involved with in a small capacity. I then head straight to Australia for a month: what started as one brief Ignatian Leadership module has expanded into 6 separate pieces of facilitation and retreat work.
And then - sabbatical! I’m taking 6 months from Christmas 2025 to improve my health and strength, to write, and to discern as attentively as I can how to spend the next ten years of my freelance life in the most utterly fitting way.
I want you to know how grateful I am to each of you who have read and responded to them.
Your encouragement has helped me to notice patterns and growth, made it easier to continue through the harder times, and given me a moment every six months to harvest the fruits of this beautiful work I am allowed to do.
Thank you for reading!
