Holding tension: Between hope, heartbreak and honest effort

This week’s reflections are not easy to write, nor are they light.

We’ve had headlines about a celebrity death. A CEO’s extramarital affair. A scandal here. A tragedy there. And yet, somehow, not the scandal. Not the one that should be filling our feeds, our voices, our prayers and our consciousness.

The real scandal is the active erasure of humanity in Gaza and beyond. It is the moral bankruptcy that allows bombs to fall on children and food to be weaponised. And it is the global complicity, silence from some corners, overt encouragement from others, that fuels it. Through arms. Through trade. Through carefully crafted statements that remain just that: statements, words. No action. No empathy. No guts.

While my mind and heart have been heavy with it all, at the same time, in the same breath, I’ve been pulled in several directions:

• Coaching sessions

• Campaign design

• Work, community and family demands

• Interviews

• And the incredible (and slightly daunting) launch of our first 5-Day Challenge: “Getting ahead by being MORE, not less, of you.”

The strategist in me says, This isn’t sustainable. Focus. Pick one thing and go deep. But the believer in me knows better. I do not own capacity: not mine, not anyone else’s. I do not own outcomes. I certainly do not own time. 

What I do own is intention. What I do have control over is the sincerity of my effort. And as long as those remain rooted, I trust that the rest will unfold as it’s meant to. I’m reminded of a verse that both humbles and unsettles me:

“Indeed, We offered the Trust [to choose right and wrong] to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and feared it. But man undertook to bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant.”
- Qur’an 33:72

God knows the full spectrum of what we are capable of: from sublime compassion to chilling cruelty. And still… He gave us the chance. That chance is a trust. A burden. A gift. And perhaps that’s why I still have hope.

Because amidst the brokenness, there are still glimpses of glory.
Just this week, I spoke to a young man who reminded me of that hope. Raised with virtue and exposed to the best of teaching, he once rejected it all. Only to rediscover, years later, the gift he had been given. Today, he's reaping the quiet rewards of that rediscovery: living with purpose, integrity and faith. And inspiring others to do the same.

I think of the country of my birth. Battered by a dark history, corruption, poverty and division. Yet now producing world-class success in cricket, rugby, athletics and so much more. If a fractured nation can triumph in so many arenas at once, then maybe, just maybe, we too can hold many tensions — and still come out stronger.

We can weep and rage for Gaza and show up fully for our clients.
We can feel pulled and still stay anchored.
We can live in a world brimming with despair and still dare to create hope.

Final thought: hold your tension
I’ve already launched the Getting ahead by being MORE, not less, of you 5-day challenge to a small, engaged group and I’m truly moved by the response. The stories, the courage, the self-discoveries already emerging… they remind me why this work matters.

If you missed out this time, don’t worry, there will be a next time. Just make sure you’re on the list so you don’t miss out again.

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Until then, stay connected, keep reading these reflections and consider what it might look like to hold the tensions in your life:

• Between trust and burden

• Between hope and despair

• Between results and effort

• Between intention and anxiety.

If our Creator trusts us with this trust, then maybe we owe it to ourselves (and to the rest of humanity) to give it a real, honest go.