The Spiral of Life
I listened to a great Alan Watts talk on faith this morning, it really got me thinking about my journey. And how I have been through so many changes and what I thought were knockbacks, but now I see as my growth.
Because life doesn’t move in straight lines. It spirals. What feels like going backwards is often the deep work of becoming.
For example, over the last decade, I repeatedly found myself returning to the same discomfort; injury, insomnia, anxiety, and the youthful psychoactive tools I used to cope. After my career reached a high point in global leadership, I was suddenly pulled into a long, quiet unraveling.
Running was gone. Joy disappeared. I couldn’t sleep, and I could no longer find my footing, nor my confidence.
What followed was a lengthy liminal period. I trained to become a coach while still caught between identities. I found connection in new social circles, but also leaned into cannabis and alcohol to manage the uncertainty.
At first, I saw these choices as exciting developments, then as lapses. Later, I understood them as signals. I wasn’t exactly stuck. But I was circling the threshold, waiting to make a big step.
Eventually, I did.
Psychedelic therapy helped me to step away from substances and step back into clarity. I realised that I no longer needed to numb or escape from my inner pain. I needed a new path. I needed a rhythm.
Meditation along with writing and performing poetry started to give me that. Authentic presence without the need to mask gave me that.
I made a final corporate challenge to myself. To experience how I had developed as a person and to complete my professional coach training.
And when the moment felt right, I left for good.
Setting myself up as an entrepreneur has been daunting, exciting, and a brand new cycle. I continue to realise that letting go of the control, and becoming friends with The Unknown is a powerful lesson.
And this was the process that became From Crisis to Calm. Not an idea, but a lived map. A way to guide others through their own transitions with clarity, patience, and practical support.
We don’t need to have it all figured out. We just need to know how to listen, how to pause, and how to take the next step through the doorway, even when we can’t see through to the other side. The unknown can be frightening, but so is staying in safe, comfortable places that we have outgrown.
With courageous step by step action, we move forward into who we truly are. I now know through my own experience, that it all begins when we have faith in ourselves.
Peace
Shaun 🙏
