A recent exchange with Victoria and Hillary (over on Substack) brought home just how complex maturity and integrity can become when you’ve lived, worked, and seen enough of both light and shadow.
In that conversation, we explored the challenge of staying true to yourself in a world that doesn’t always play fair. It’s not just novices who struggle with this. Even seasoned professionals can fall into the trap of assuming others share their integrity, their sense of fairness, their humanity. When they don’t, it can feel like betrayal.
What I said then still stands.
It’s incredibly difficult to step aside from who we are in any given moment and view others objectively. We see through the filter of our history. Yet at some point, a shift occurs. We begin to realise, ‘I am enough. I don’t need the recognition of others.’ Not because we’ve become cold or detached, but because we’ve stopped needing constant validation to prove our worth.
That realisation softens something inside. The mind and body begin to relax into themselves. And with that relaxation comes a quiet power – an ability to observe, to choose, to respond, rather than react.
But this doesn’t mean disengaging from the world. You can’t stay blind to the environment you operate in. You can’t survive long in ignorance of the forces, personalities, and politics around you.
Awareness is not cynicism; it’s clarity. You don’t have to become a slave to the system, nor a victim of it. You just need to see it clearly and decide, consciously, how you’ll engage with it – in a way that serves your purpose, your mission, your uniqueness.
When you reach that point, something remarkable happens. You stop chasing the mountain. You stand still, rooted in your truth. And the mountain comes to you
Make sure and check out Victoria’s Corporate Jungle and Hillary’s work too!