Hi Reader,

We'd agreed he'd do some work between sessions.

He hadn't. And when we got on the call, he was genuinely disappointed in himself. Felt like he'd let me down, let himself down.

I've had enough of these conversations to know what's usually underneath that.

It's rarely laziness.

He's working inside an organisation that's been in a slow death spiral for a few years.

Restructure every six months. Add in a pay freeze and a hiring freeze. But all the expectations to meet higher targets still there. The people around him all visibly checked out, counting down to pensions, talking about themselves in 1:1s.

He told me the energy in the place was unlike anything he'd seen before.

And somewhere in all of that, he'd started to wonder if the road ahead just... dropped off. That the career he'd worked for wasn't going to materialise. That he'd left it too late.

The job market isn't helping.

A realistic move, when it comes, is a 9-12 month project. So leaving isn't the answer right now. Surviving without losing yourself is.

We didn't talk about CVs or job applications that session.

We talked about what restores him.

How to build small pockets of energy back into his week when the organisation is actively draining them. Reaching out to a few people he respects. Finding events worth attending. Remembering what he's actually built over a career he's been too close to see clearly.

Three days later, this arrived in my inbox.

Nothing external had changed. The organisation was still the same. The market was still the same.

But he'd found a way back to himself inside it.

That’s the task when you feel the ground beneath you is giving way – finding *your* way to resource yourself and fill the tank.

If this resonates, hit reply and tell me what's keeping you going right now.

Your wing woman,

Catherine