Fifteen Years!

A Lesson in Listening To Ourselves

I usually keep January for hibernation mode. It’s too soon to hit the ground running, and quite honestly, I don’t think it does us any good when we’re all frayed around the edges post-Christmas and New Year and the inevitable hard work that goes into it. But for some reason, this year, February slipped through my fingers too. And that’s okay. I think I needed it.

Let me tell you about graduation, which happened at the end of January. It was such a fabulous day. I’d genuinely toyed with not going, thinking it was all a bit of an unnecessary palaver, but as soon as I put the gown on, I was filled with emotion—so pleased that I had actually, finally, done it.

I have talked about wanting to go back to university for over fifteen years and I’ve talked myself out of it over and over again - with the help of friends who with big hearts tried to tell me that I had nothing to prove. ‘You have a wonderful job and family, you don’t need a degree,’ some would say. And I would nod, thinking I was suffering a dose of the grass is greener, and I’d lay the dream down… only for it to raise its head a few months later.

Fifteen years!!

This is the danger of not listening to ourselves—of letting other people’s opinions sway us, even when they mean well. And that’s hard because sometimes, someone else’s wisdom is exactly what we need to hear. But other times? It pulls us away from something we deeply want to do.

Standing there in my cap and gown, I realised how long I’d put this off and let various other distractions steer me away from this thing that was so important to me. And I know I’m not alone in that. How many of us have dreams we keep shelving because we think it’s too late, unnecessary, or selfish?

Compare and despair!

These days, getting lost in the noise around us is easy. A quick scroll through Instagram, Facebook, or Linkedin can leave us inspired by someone else’s achievements, only for us to reflect on our own lives and fall into the trap of comparison. Compare and despair. We watch others take big leaps, and instead of focusing on our own path, we hesitate, take a detour, or convince ourselves that it’s not the right time.

But true fulfilment and happiness don’t come from watching others chase their dreams. They come from following our own curiosity. We talk ourselves out of things all the time - imposter syndrome creeps in, someone else’s negativity plants doubt, or we tell ourselves we’re not ready. But the truth is, we will never feel fully ready. And the only person who can make it happen is us.

2025 is still young. So, if this resonates, maybe this is the year to stop thinking about it, talking about it, or reading about it—and just do it. Since posting about my graduation and the story behind it on Instagram, I’ve received so many messages from people saying they wish they had done the same, and my answer is always this: DO IT! Do the thing. Because it’s NEVER too late.

Maybe for you, it’s returning to education. Or maybe it’s starting a business, or writing the book or signing up for that class, or finally making that big change. Whatever it is—jump in. Don’t wait to feel ready.

We rarely feel ready. And that’s exactly why we have to start.