The other day, someone said to me: “I couldn’t do what you’re doing. I need to be busy. I need to be doing things.” Fair enough. Each to their own. But busyness feels like a trap that I want to use this year to wriggle free from. I’m going to give life in the slow lane a whirl. There’s a concept in running called periodisation. You train hard for a block of weeks, then ease back, allowing your body to recover and adapt. The fitness gains don’t come just from the training itself, but from giving your body time to absorb the work. Nature understands this. Fields lie fallow. Heathland is burned to create the conditions for new growth. Seasons turn. Things die back, endings happen, and space opens up for something new. So that’s the idea for my year out: to make some space, see the world from different vantage points and replenish my stores of energy and enthusiasm. I’m feeling excited. Here’s a sketch for the year ahead Chapter one: The running monk First up, a mo...
It’s been four weeks since my last day at the Mental Health Foundation, after eight years as Chief Executive and over ten years in total. I’m taking a break from work for a year - or what some now call micro retirement. It’s been like stepping through the wardrobe in the Narnia tales - blinking into the light of a world where things feel and look suddenly different. I like it here but I’m still coming to terms with the change of pace. I underestimated how enriching leaving an organisation can be. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye properly. To colleagues, donors, supporters and people who have been part of the journey. I get it was a self selecting audience and those who were less enamoured with my decisions or approach probably weren’t queuing up to say goodbye. But it was still moving to hear generous and uplifting feedback from colleagues - some of whom I’d worked with for over a decade. We (I am guessing it’s not just me) spend so much time carryi...