Trees grow in two directions. I came across that thought a while ago, and it stayed with me. In autumn, we watch leaves fall and branches stand bare, as if the trees have lost their strength. But much of their life is happening out of sight: roots hold firm, drawing on what they’ve gathered to help them endure the colder, quieter months.
That’s a reminder for those of us building businesses on our own. We often judge strength by what’s visible: keeping up, pushing through, showing up as if everything is fine. But a quieter season or a moment when we feel we’re struggling doesn’t mean we’ve failed. Sometimes growth means pausing, feeling what’s really going on and finding the support that helps us begin again.
That idea is at the heart of this month’s virtual event ‘You Can’t Bounce Back If You Never Go Down: A Talk on Resilience’ on 29 October. We’ll question the familiar image of resilience as always holding it together and explore what it can look like when we let ourselves feel, falter and come back, not perfectly, but honestly. Our speaker, Rotterdam-based coach and speaker Ioana Vieru, helps high performers reconnect with themselves and build lives that feel as good on the inside as they look on paper.
We’d also like to remind you that you can work alongside one another at our regular co-working days, held on the first Tuesday and third Thursday of each month. Want to join us? You’ll find our Co-Working group in our WhatsApp community.