The Quiet Season Before Things Change

Sometimes life can look completely normal on the outside… while internally, something is quietly shifting.

In this solo episode, I’m reflecting on that kind of season — the one where change is happening, but not always in ways other people can see yet.

I share a little of what this season has felt like for me: building the podcast, growing my work, getting clearer on what I want to create, and learning to trust what is forming even when there is not yet obvious proof.

Because not every meaningful shift arrives with dramatics. 

Sometimes the strongest change happens quietly — in ordinary weeks, small decisions, and moments where you begin to trust yourself differently.

If you are in a season where something feels like it is moving, even if life still looks the same, this episode is for you.

Key Topics 

• what quiet change can feel like before anything looks different externally
• building something before you fully know what it will become
• trusting your own timing
• the role values play when life feels uncertain
• allowing identity to evolve without forcing it

Takeaways

• Change often begins long before it becomes visible
• You do not always get proof straight away that something is working
• Internal clarity matters just as much as external progress
• Quiet seasons can still be deeply productive

I would really like if you haven't already if you liked and shared with anyone who you think would enjoy it! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning and welcome back to the Mothering Project. I just wanted to come on today because there's something I keep noticing, both in the conversations that I'm having here and honestly within myself also. It's that before change happens in a visible way that sometimes it can often happen in a really quiet way in a quiet season first. So a season where nothing dramatic has actually happened, obviously, and then life can still look very normal from the outside to everyone else. But you're still doing what needs to be done. So you're parenting, you're working, you're showing up, you're keeping things moving as you normally would. And yet internally something has shifted and something feels a little bit different for you. A thought that keeps returning to me, a question that sits there and a sense that something is shifting, even if you cannot really fully explain it yet. I think I know that feeling because even lately, in very ordinary days, I have felt that myself. So, for example, building my website, which sounds so practical on the outside and on the surface, but actually it felt a lot bigger than that. Because when you start putting words around what it is that you do and what you offer and what you stand for, it asks something of you. It asks you to become really clear. And I've touched on it on one of my podcasts before as well. You're then more visible and you're out in the universe and the world, and everyone can see what you're doing and what you're up to. And even saying it out loud to people, what I actually do has felt significant in a way that I did not fully accept. And I've spoken to a friend about this recently. You know, when people congratulate me on the podcast, it's almost um it's surreal and then it's weird because I don't know what to say back. Because I've been planning this in my own mind for like a number of years. Um, so yeah, it's just that really weird feeling around putting language around what you actually do. Like even this week, I was thinking about how varied my days can look. Like today's Monday when I'm recording the podcast. I've just done an interview with some another um interview guest who is amazing. And that's my Mondays generally, where I do my marketing, I do my content, and I do my interviews for my podcast and you know, pre-work from my business as well, the human project. But one moment I'm deep in conversations around workplace culture, um, psychosocial safety, leadership, and the kinds of things inside organizations that people do not always really talk about openly. Another moment I'm at home and I'm doing all the ordinary life stuff. So school pick about three, dinner, the logistics behind it all, booking holidays, trying to hold family and work and moving parts in between. And then I'm, you know, creating project plans for some of my corporate clients, where I'm helping them, obviously, with the psychosocial and the safety leadership. And I'm speaking with them, you know, I'm I'm just shifting. And then somewhere inside all of that, I'm also then building. So quietly thinking about what the actual next chapter of my own work looks like and what belongs together. And yeah, that's really exciting to me. Because sometimes actually the building of it all isn't dramatic. It just stays like it's like building blocks. You chip away at it slowly, you keep adding on, you keep adding on in the background. And sometimes it's actually just letting other different parts of yourself sit beside each other and not break yourself into a million different pieces. I think for a long time I probably explained different parts of my work separately. Um, but lately I can just feel that changing too. So there's a stronger sense of I guess there's a stronger sense that underneath it all I'm drawn to the same things. So, for example, how people function, how women move through change, how companies move through change, um, what capacity really looks like in work and in in females and women in motherhood, and what happens when someone in life takes a risks or asks for more honesty. I think the podcast has been really part of that too, though. It did begin with No, I'll actually rephrase that. It did not begin because it was fully mapped out. It really wasn't. I had no idea what I was gonna actually the format in what I was gonna take it out on. But I knew that I wanted to do it. And I knew that there was something that was just calling me and nudging me to do this. It began with a like quiet pull, but then I just couldn't ignore it anymore. There was just all these things that happened that I was like, oh, okay, so it's not like a quiet knock anymore. It's actually someone's pushing me to do this. Um there was just a sense that there was all these conversations that I wanted to have, and then there were questions that I wanted to stay with longer, a different way that I wanted to use my voice. And if I'm honest, even while doing it, there were moments where I still think this is really stretching me. And I guess it's getting me out of my comfort zone as well. What I've loved is seeing how differently some the same kind of knowing shows up in each woman's story. So I've had all these really amazing guests so far that I've interviewed, and that's one of my favorite parts of the podcast. And I've got mixed feedback around what people's favorite part is um in the podcast, but I love talking to people. Recently there was a one with Julie Parker, and she speaks so clearly about values that when you know what matters most to you, decisions become clearer. And even when life is full and layered, because you know your values, it's really easy to get back to that. With Circa, there was really honesty around stepping away and I suppose handing over the control to people and trusting them in your business to run it while you're not in it. You know, nothing is gonna break, nothing's gonna go dramatically wrong. Um, but it's putting that trust in them people that you've hired. And with Tara, I just kept thinking about how much we spoke about the woman that carries everything professionally, mentally, and emotionally, and often the capacity that's visible to everyone else, but actually it's not really fully acknowledged to us yet. And then there was Fanula. So there was something really powerful with Funula around recognizing and preparing for a chapter in your life that you're unsure of what it means yet. Um, you know, when I interviewed Funula, she was just stepping into motherhood. So she was pregnant and now she's a mom. So it was just preparing for that new chapter. I did a recent interview with um Carla from Hit Pilates, and you know, the one line that stuck with me was if I'm leaving my kids, I want to make sure that it's something that I'm really, really passionate about. And this mornings that I'm reflecting on now after she's left is tea's. So tea really, really summed up a process where she sits with herself and the questions that she asks herself when she's making big, huge life decisions that will affect you and your family. And it was just all this wisdom that came from all these podcasts, and like I learned something from each of these really, really cool women as well, and I hope you do. I think motherhood really does sharpen this feeling. Um there are seasons of life where life is really, really full. So you've got lunches, you've got work, you've got conversations, tiredness, school bookings, sport events, um, dinners, birthdays, all of that. And yet quietly you're changing inside of all of that. And sometimes your priorities shift. And your patience changes over time, depending on how much sleep you get and how much I suppose gas you've got left in your kind of tank as well. Have you looked after yourself? Have you taken care of yourself? And sometimes your tolerance for what you n no longer fits with you, it's harder to ignore. So if something just doesn't align with your values, as Julie said, like it's you can't ignore it anymore. You get to a point where it just doesn't it doesn't sit well. I think that's what I'm learning actually, that not every meaningful shift arrives in this big, huge, dramatic way. Sometimes it actually looks like just writing new words on a website and articulating what it is that you do. It's pressure, it's pressing publish on a podcast that you're unsure of, especially the solo ones, and I've gone through that. And sometimes it looks like answering a simple question differently when someone asks you what you do. And, you know, instead of rehearsing it, but actually speaking from your heart, because if you're really passionate about what you do, I don't think then you can get undone because you're actually talking from a place of passion and values and what you like to do. I think that's why this season has felt so important to me personally, because while these conversations are happening publicly, they're also ones that I've been processing in the background myself too. And it's just in a more quiet space. My ideas have been taking shape. Um, I've had lots of wobbles along the way. And um, luckily I have some really cool females that are in the entrepreneur or out there by themselves space that I can go to when I'm feeling them wobbles. Um, there's work that I really want to bring forward more clearly now. Um, since all these conversations and since I started this podcast and since I got back into the corporate world doing the work that I really, really want to do. And then there's just a stronger sense of what I want in this space and what I want to achieve. I already know this season has been amazing. I've gotten fantastic feedback and the support has been really, really nice to see and feel because it is scary putting yourself out there. Um, but it's been amazing. People have just been so cool and so generous with their time. All the people that I've interviewed, plus everyone else that's supported me along the way. Um, but I know that season two then will look slightly different, and yeah, I'm looking forward to a little bit of a shift in it. There will be more depth in some areas, and there'll be a few mini-series conversations that will be coming up as well. Um, and different aspects. So there'll be a little bit of like the workplace, but then there'll also be a little bit of motherhood, and I can't wait to announce the mini-series. Some themes I want to stay with for longer are the little mini-series because I think some conversations just deserve more space, so a little bit more time and different reflection and different viewpoints. But maybe that's actually the beauty of building something while you are still growing inside it too. It doesn't actually have to arrive finished. You can just start. It's just them small little actions that you have to take and hope for the best. Underneath different stories, there's often the same quiet human experience. Something is changing in you before you actually have proof of what it is, before there's certainty, or before there's a plan, or before there's assurance actually that it's going to work out and that you're not going to fall flat in your face. And maybe the real work is learning to trust that something meaningful can happen even before everyone else fully sees it. So it can be within you. So like the change can be within you first, and then everyone starts seeing that. It's like a uh a domino effect. Maybe some seasons are yeah, they're about announcing everything, but maybe it's just about trusting what is forming before it's fully visible as well. I think the self-trust part is actually what has driven me through this season. Um probably doubted myself, of course, because we all are our worst critics, but I've just really appreciated all of your support. I've really supported be felt supported and held. I've had all these really great feedbacks from the sessions. I've got a particular follower that, you know, every Tuesday I get a voice note, and I hope that continues as well, giving me a summary of what they liked and what they didn't like. Um, I've got another girl that texts me every Tuesday as well, telling me, you know, this is what resonated with me. And that just really lands with me, and it really actually drives me forward too that I'm hitting the right spot for people, and people like to hear these stories. I just really wanted to say thanks for being here. And like I said, this will be my last solo episode for this season. You'll have one more coming out next week, and that will be Carla from Hit Pilates. I've got heaps of guests that lined up for next um season, but also I've already pre-recorded some of them, so they're lined up and ready to go. And if you do enjoy this and you haven't followed and subscribed, I'd really appreciate that and put some reviews on the platform just so that it grows the audience and we can continue on to get really cool guests on. And um yeah, it means a lot. Thank you so much for supporting season one, and I cannot wait to support you in season two. Take care, everyone.