Dare to pause

Before choosing a niche

She left the cohort.

After months of learning and trying.

And she was still confused.

Maybe more confused than when she stepped in.

Everybody was so certain about their role…

They knew exactly what they were doing.

‘I help X do Y through Z.’

‘Everyone but me,’ she said to herself. Why?

It seemed like she was the only one who hadn’t figured out her line.

Every time she tried to name it, she felt even more unclear.

And for quite some time, the feeling was that…maybe…she was wrong?

‘Why can’t I just choose one line, one niche, and just…follow that path?’

But suddenly, she realised something.

Maybe she didn’t have to choose.

She just needed to be herself.

And while being…

Her niche would find her.

Maybe you are her.

Trying to fit yourself into a line.

Joining together all the pieces of the puzzle, hoping that they make sense somehow.

‘You just need to choose.’ - that’s the advice.

As if choosing was something we could simply do.

As if we could ignore our body pulling us in different directions.

And telling us that being just one thing is not our path.

But what if all this advice were wrong?

At least for us.

We have many hats.

We want (and need) to wear them all.

So, what if we didn’t need to choose between different paths?

Because we know that when we do so, parts of ourselves will be left behind.

And this is what we’ve been missing, and maybe nobody told us this before.

We can be many.

And as time moves on, we are allowed to change our focus.

Because focus is not the same as choosing one thing, but the same as choosing one problem at a time.

Read that again if needed.

One problem at a time.

But your whole self, any time.

So maybe today you need to be the storyteller who writes about the beauty of life and how we need to live fully if we want to bring our best selves to our workplaces.

Tomorrow, the leadership advisor who reinforces the importance of meaningful work, as the need for a beautiful life.

And someday, the beauty advisor helping women regain confidence in their images. So they can live more fully and step into their workplace with more confidence.

You brought the same lenses in whatever you did.

You talked about beauty, life, work, and purpose from different angles.

In some moments, parts of yourself spoke louder than others…

But at your core, your identity…the many pieces of your puzzle…remained there.

And in this process, you didn’t choose a niche.

You chose yourself.

Dare to pause here.

And just be.

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Until the next reflection

<3 Jacqueline