The Wobble

"Feel the fear, and do it anyway"

Susan Jeffers

One month from today, I leave behind a 36-year corporate career and this week, I had a wobble.

Thirty-six years.

That’s how long I’ve spent building a corporate career; leading, growing, adapting, and showing up.

And one month from today, I leave it behind. For good.

As I sit here today, this feels a huge sentence to write. It feels even bigger to live.

Being honest, authentic and a role model are important values to me. As I move through this period of transition, I want to be vulnerable with you about something:

I’ve had a wobble.

It’s easy to think that once the decision is made, the path should feel exciting, electric, and aligned 100% of the time. The truth is that even the most soul-led, aligned path comes with shaky knees.

Last weekend, I went on a retreat with other female business owners hoping it would be the new space where I would neatly fit. I thought it would be the moment that answered all my lingering questions, gave me clarity, showed me exactly what I was here to do. I was surprised to find that it didn’t. Not because the retreat wasn’t good, it was excellent and an experience I will treasure.

The retreat became a mirror. It reflected what I don’t want as much as it reminded me what I do. It showed me that no external thing will ever give me “the answer” — because the answer has always lived inside me.

Over the past few weeks, since making the decision to leave my corporate career, I have had this overwhelming sense of needing to find the new shaped hole that I will fit in. I have known for some time that I had outgrown the corporate-shaped hole and assumed there would be another hole I’d fit perfectly into.

This wobble has made me realise that I am wrong. There is no ready-made hole for me.

During the downtime on the retreat, I was sat on a balcony overlooking the sea. The moon was full and it was casting moonlight on the gentle waves. I was sitting in the discomfort of the in-between. Wrestling with the feeling that I needed to find a text book answer to what I should be doing next and who I should be doing it for.

I was suddenly reminded of something.

About 18 months ago, I was feeling very trapped. I was leaning into the desire to go full time in my business whilst also knowing in my soul that the timing was not quite right. I had a spiritual reading done for me based on numerology and other spiritual concepts and the output was a book that outlined my purpose pathway.

I was asked to send through a couple of photos of me for the front cover of the book. The author chose a photo of me that could not be further from my corporate image. It is a photo of me dressed in a very boho style, with a floppy hat. It is a picture I love because it just says ‘freedom’ to me.

The author chooses one word to describe you based on your reading. My word was PIONEER.

This word did not resonate with me at all. I had a strong reaction to it. It made me doubt the accuracy of the reading.

And as I sat on that balcony, in the moonlight overlooking the sea, the word pioneer came into my head.

I have outgrown an identity. There is no Joanna shaped hole for me to fill. It is time for me to create the Joanna shaped hole I was always meant to fill.

This is my time to lead.

I am the one I’ve been waiting for.

My second wobble came courtesy of my penultimate salary payment. That was a moment. Not because I don’t trust myself to be successful beyond my corporate job but because this is a whole new edge.

I am not going to lie, there was a flicker of panic. A brief but potent “what if?”

I didn’t allow it to overcome me. I noticed the moment, allowed myself to feel it and I moved beyond it. I tapped into my mindset tools and reframed this moment of fear. Fear is not a stop sign — it’s just a signal I’m on the edge of growth. This isn’t a time for me to doubt. It is an invitation to trust myself more deeply than ever before.

This past week has been a moment of reflection. I’ve released the need to find the next Joanna shaped hole because I’m not here to fit in — I’m here to forge.

What I keep coming back to is this:

I’m not meant to fit into something new.
Not another job.
Not someone else’s version of success.
Not a pre-packaged post-corporate blueprint.

I’m meant to create my own.

This next chapter is not about choosing between corporate and entrepreneurship.
It’s not about finding another space to blend into. It’s about having the courage to carve out a Joanna-shaped hole in the world. To pioneer a path that feels true to me.To do life and leadership beyond the rules, the roles, and the rhythms I’ve outgrown.

I don’t want to be like everyone else.
I want to lead something so real, so soul-driven, that I have to evolve in order to hold it.

We all have wobbles.

Maybe you’re in your own version of this.
Maybe you're still in the job, the role, the rhythm that no longer feels like you.
Maybe you're standing on the edge, wondering if you're brave enough to leap.

This is your reminder:

A wobble doesn’t mean you’re weak.
It means you’re alive.
It means you care.
It means you’re being stretched into something bigger.

And if you’ve felt the pull to do life differently…
You’re not alone.
You’re not crazy.
You’re becoming.

This is just the beginning.

This next month is a sacred one for me.
A goodbye. A homecoming. A becoming.

I don’t have all the answers yet, but I do have my truth and I’m trusting that’s enough to build the future I can feel calling me forward.

If you’re standing on your own edge, I see you.
You’re not here to fit.
You’re here to forge.

Let’s brave the wobbles and go create something extraordinary. Together.