I Wish I\'d Heard This Sooner

A reader wrote to me recently and said something that has stayed with me.

She said she wished she had something like this to hear when she was younger.

I know exactly what she means.

The Things Nobody Told Us

Nobody told us that the most accomplished women in the room often feel the least certain they belong there.

Nobody told us that the voice in your head saying you are not good enough is not a truth-teller. It is a liar with very good timing.

Nobody told us that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. That admitting you do not know something is not the same as proving you should not be there. That the discomfort of being stretched is not the same as being out of your depth.

We figured these things out the hard way. Or we are still figuring them out.

What I Would Tell My Younger Self

I would tell her to stop waiting for permission.

I would tell her that the people who seem most confident are often the ones who have simply decided to act despite the doubt, not in the absence of it.

I would tell her that her instincts are sharper than she thinks. That the times she second-guessed herself and was right — those were not flukes. That was her.

I would tell her that belonging is not something you earn. It is something you claim.

But Here Is the Thing About Timing

Even if I could go back and tell her all of this, I am not sure she would have been ready to hear it.

Some things can only land when you have lived enough to recognise them as true.

The reader who wrote to me said the book came at exactly the right time. Not when she was younger — now. When she had the life experience to receive it fully.

Maybe that is how it works. Maybe wisdom does not arrive early. It arrives when you are ready.

For the Women Who Are Ready Now

If you are at a point in your life where you are tired of the doubt, tired of shrinking, tired of waiting for someone to confirm that you belong — this book was written for you.

Not for the version of you that needed it ten years ago. For the version of you that is here right now, reading this, wondering if it is too late to change the story.

It is not too late. It is exactly the right time.

Get the audiobook on Amazon →

Narrated by Sarah Kowalchuck, the audiobook is available now. The paperback and Kindle editions are there too, whenever you are ready.