Sometimes we imagine that change needs to be justified.
We feel we need a good enough reason to leave the job, change direction, create more space, pursue the dream, rethink the way we are working or simply acknowledge that the life we have built no longer quite fits. If things are really bad, change makes sense. If we are deeply unhappy, exhausted or struggling, then of course something needs to change.
But what if nothing is particularly wrong?
What if you have a good life? A career you have worked hard for. People you love. Things you are genuinely grateful for. What if, from the outside at least, there is absolutely no reason to be dissatisfied? And yet somewhere inside you, there is a quiet sense that you want something different.
That matters. You don’t need to be unhappy to want something different.
You don’t have to wait until something becomes intolerable.
One of the things I have noticed over many years of working with people through periods of change is how long we can tolerate things that don’t feel right. And I’ve certainly done my own share of this.
I remember a few years ago being really sick in the run-up to Christmas and cancelling some work and events. I felt I had to. I was proud of myself for doing it and told my coach about the decisions I’d made.
She was glad I had given myself that space, but she also taught me a huge lesson that I want to share with you today: if you can make a good decision when your back is against the wall, you can make that same decision earlier in the process.
We stay in situations that drain us. We continue ways of working that leave too little room for the rest of our lives. We put dreams on hold. We tell ourselves that we are lucky, that other people have it much harder, that this is simply what life looks like at this stage.
Sometimes we wait until the discomfort becomes so great that change is no longer optional. But discontent is not something you are required to tolerate.
Discontent is information.
That recurring feeling that something isn’t quite right is worth listening to. So is the idea that keeps returning. The longing you keep dismissing. The part of you that wonders whether there might be another way to live, work or contribute.
You don’t need a crisis to give you permission to pay attention. And you don’t need to reject your current life in order to imagine another version of it.
You can be grateful for what you have and still want something different. You can appreciate the career you have built and recognise that the next chapter needs to look different. You can be successful and still feel called towards something more.
And “more” doesn’t always mean more
When we talk about creating a bigger vision for our lives, it is easy to assume that “more” means more achievement, more money, more responsibility, more recognition or more things.
It can mean those things, if that is what you’d love. But more can also mean less. Less pressure. Less rushing. Less responsibility. Less proving. Less time spent doing things that no longer matter to you.
Your vision might be for more spaciousness. More creativity. More connection. More meaningful work. More freedom over your time. More laughter. More rest. More contribution. More of the person you know yourself to be at your best.
Vision isn’t about creating an impressive life. It is about creating a life that feels true.
What would you love?
This is one of the simplest questions I know, and also one of the most powerful.
What would you love?
Notice how quickly the mind can rush in with its responses. Yes, but how would I do that? Is that realistic? Could I afford it? What would other people think? Am I too old to start again? Is it selfish to want that?
These are not unreasonable questions. There will be a time to engage with the practicalities. But they are not the place to begin.
When we begin with how, we can eliminate possibilities before we have even allowed ourselves to imagine them.
Vision asks us to begin somewhere else. What would you love your life to look and feel like? How would you love to be spending your time? Who would you love to become? What would you love to create, experience or contribute?
Before you ask whether you know how to get there, allow yourself to know where you would love to go.
Living from the inside out
So much of life encourages us to work in the opposite direction. We look at what is available and decide what we can have. We look at our circumstances and decide what is possible — what our bank account says we can afford, what our calendar says we have time for. We look at what other people expect and decide what is appropriate.
We live from the outside in.
Living from the inside out starts with a different orientation. It starts by becoming quiet enough to hear what is calling you from within and reconnecting with what matters most to you, what energises you and what you would genuinely love.
Then you engage your mind. You explore possibilities, develop strategies, make decisions and take action.
The practical matters. But the practical comes in service of the vision, rather than being allowed to determine it before it has even been born.
September is a threshold
There is something about September that has always felt like a threshold. Perhaps it is the memory of the new school year, the shift in the seasons, the harvest gathering or the evenings drawing in. There is a sense that one part of the year is ending and another is beginning.
And here we are, eight months into 2026.
💫 There is no need to judge what you have or haven’t achieved so far this year, or to turn the final months into a frantic race towards December. But there is an invitation to become intentional again.
To ask:
How do I want to live the rest of this year?
And perhaps an even deeper question:
What is asking to be created through me now?
There may be a discontent you have been tolerating. An idea that keeps returning. A dream you have repeatedly put aside. Or simply a growing awareness that the way you want to live your next chapter is different from the way you have lived the last one.
Listen to it.
You don’t have to wait until something is wrong. You don’t have to wait until you are unhappy enough. You don’t have to wait until you know how.
Sometimes the beginning of change is simply being willing to tell yourself the truth about what you would love.
An invitation to create your vision
If these questions are stirring something in you, I’d love to invite you to join me for my two-day Vision Workshop on 17–18 October.
It’s an opportunity to step away from the busyness and demands of everyday life, reconnect with what you would genuinely love, create a vision for the life you want to live, and begin exploring how you can move towards it.
You don’t need to arrive knowing what your vision is. You don’t need to have your next chapter figured out.
You simply need to be willing to ask the question:
What would I love?
You can find out more and book your place here.
Here’s to you being you,
Maeve x