Hello , my fellow brave human

I woke up this morning to glorious sunshine and decided to do my first river crossing of the year in my sandals on the way to the studio. I can confirm that the water was cold, and it was blissful. The sound of the birds was almost deafening.

I can also confirm that my new tortoise life is working, I am slowing despite my workload seeming to hasten in pace. It’s fun playing with it all.

In this email I write about

• Another revelation I had in the run-up to my marathon.
• The latest episode of Brave Conversations - with Beth Bellingham who, on discovering the concept of ‘Matrescence’ has launched a business - matrescence is a new concept to me, but makes complete sense - read below to find out more. I’ve managed to get the podcast onto YoutTube too now!

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Are you aware of the power of your own power?

”Self Belief is a powerful thing - it helps you navigate the most difficult terrain, and leaves you stranded when it evaporates” me, march 2026

I’m still learning a few things from my run as I reflect on the effect the whole process has had on me. It nearly all went badly wrong at the last minute when what self-belief I had evaporated overnight.

It was a few days before the big day, and I was struck with an absolute, chilling fear.

Not the little ball of nerves I’d been managing for weeks — this was full, paralysing dread. My knees were in agony, and I’d committed to facilitating a strategy session with 13 people the very next day, two hours’ drive away, requiring a 5:30am start.

I lay awake for two nights, catastrophising brilliantly.

“You’re going to ruin your body.” “You’re going to hobble into that session the next day foggy and useless.” “Why on earth did you commit to both?” “Your credibility and reputation will be in ruins”

And… I almost listened.

Then something shifted. I looked back at the version of me who had committed to both events and asked: how did I get here? And the answer was simple. Past me believed she could. She’d known fine well that present me was perfectly capable.

So instead of asking can I do this? I asked instead: what would need to be in place for both to be possible? I pictured myself at the finishing line with a big grin on my face. And at the end of the end of my session, with a big grin on my face.

I called on Gisela for Reiki for painless knees and a clear head. David met me at the finish line with chicken drumsticks and a protein shake. I prepared my session so thoroughly nothing could knock me off course. Epsom salt bath booked. Everything else on hold.

I didn’t silence the failure voice. I heard it, I acknowledged it — and then chose not to listen to it.

And then, there we were. Katia and I both crossed the finish line grinning. I woke up the next morning at 5:30 — pain-free, clear-headed, completely ready. The session was a success. I had a grin on my face.

The real cost of following that fear would have been corrosive — and I’d never have known what I was really capable of.

Instead, I had visualised an alternate reality based on hope and trust in myself, and then put everything possible in place to make that alternative reality work.

This has been such a lesson to me. We all have this power - this beautiful power. We all have choices to make when we lose faith in ourselves. We can sit with hope and possibility, or we can sit in fear and let our world stay small. We can choose to create our own alternative reality.

What alternative reality can you create for yourself right now? What does hope and possibility look, feel and sound like for that — and how can you make it louder than your fear?

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The Biggest Transition Nobody Told You About - Matrescence

Beth Bellingham has spent her career in male-dominated environments. Management consulting at Deloitte. Construction. Fast-paced, process-driven, results-focused work.

Then she became a mother and none of those skills worked anymore.

Then she heard the word matrescence — the transformation every woman goes through when she becomes a mother — and everything suddenly made sense. The struggle wasn’t her. It was an undocumented, unsupported scientifically proven transition that nobody was talking about.

Most people would have taken that insight and moved on. Beth didn’t.

Instead she’s made a series of brave choices to get to this moment. Deciding this was too important to keep to herself.

Refusing to just support mothers in isolation — she is making the case that workplaces, partners and fathers need to understand this too.

She spent five years building before launching, while working full time and raising two children.

And crucially, she hasn’t left her old world behind. She’s brought it with her. The frameworks, the directness, the business thinking — meet Beth, and The Matrescence Project.

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or click on the link below to watch on YouTube.

Watch here

In the meantime, here’s to your brilliance

Kirsty x