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It’s Sunday night and I’m writing my newsletter, this is the most organised I’ve ever been!

My weekly routine is pretty unique. My client work is structured and organised but the planning, research and thinking time I use in my strategic work is achieved best when I feel the most productive.

Sometimes I work at 5 in the morning and sometimes like now, I work best on a Sunday evening. It’s one of the joys of working for myself and accepting that I no longer fit in the boxes of a specific job.

It’s not without its stress. My income is fluid and a salaried role has many benefits, so this isn’t to say that one is better than the other, it’s about what works best for each of us and about personal choice and autonomy.

This all became more apparent this week when I organised the insurance for our new campervan (more on that soon!). As it’s a modified van, I needed to speak to a person rather than doing it all online. So when they asked me what I do for a living, I had to think for a minute. What do I do? People sometimes ask me that too when I go to the more painful types of networking. You know the thing, people look at you and ask the question, “So what do you do?”

That would be easy if I was an accountant, or a dentist or maybe even a Marketing Director as I was in the past but now I’m just a bundle of experience. The essence of my work is to help people and businesses find their way. But I’m not sure a term like “wayfinder” has a box on an insurance algorithm!

So when I meet people, depending on the audience, I say I’m a coach, a nature‑based event facilitator, a sustainable business strategist or something in between. But I hate fitting into boxes. I’m a human that’s just trying to be of service each day to myself, to others and to the earth. Choosing love over fear as much as I can.

Have a watch of what the amazing folk singer Pete Seeger thought in 1968…

After listening to Pete Seeger’s Little Boxes, it’s hard not to smile at this critique of the consumer society growing over 60 years ago. The lyrics describe low quality housing all the same, people all the same and jobs all the same - a world where individuality is flattened into categories. It’s catchy, but it’s also a reminder of how easily we can be shaped to fit into boxes that were never designed for us.

And I think the system benefits when we stay in those boxes. Specialisation makes us predictable and predictability keeps us busy with the drudgery of modern life - paying bills, chasing deadlines, ticking boxes. And with the economy as it is, life feels harder than ever. We’ve followed the paths of conformity because they promised security but now it feels that dream is heading towards a nightmare with redundancies, burnout, rising costs and the constant pressure to keep going.

Our boxes are cracking under the strain. Yet instead of encouraging us to step outside, the system tells us to double down and to cling even tighter to the categories, the labels, the roles and the division. We see it in the rise of increasingly right wing politics and societies. Some of these voices claim they’re rebelling against a “woke system,” but in reality they’re being pushed deeper into the very boxes the system built for them.

I know the limitation of boxes well. I wore the masks of job titles, career ladders and neat categories. But slowing down gave me the chance to remember who I was before I was convinced I needed to find my box and be obedient. I realised I wasn’t unique for stepping outside, I simply gave myself the time to pause, to notice and to reconnect with the values that had always been there beneath the surface.

So maybe it’s time for us to be more daring? And become more disobedient, more natural, more wild?

Events & gatherings

If Little Boxes reminds us how easily we can be shaped to fit categories, these upcoming gatherings are about reclaiming the freedom to think for ourselves and step outside those restrictions.

On Thursday 18th, we’ll gather on the land for our third Natural Network event The Wintering, a chance to slow down, listen to nature and remember who we are when we’re not rushing to fit into roles or routines.

And prior to that, on Tuesday 16th I’ll be part of an event to explore our growing addiction to technology. We’ll look at how screens and algorithms keep us inside the boxes, busy and distracted and how we can begin to loosen their grip to find our way back to connection and choice.

The Wintering: Event 3 in The Natural Network series

18th December. 3.30-5.30 at Four Acre Farm. Tickets here

In a change to our regular half day gathering, we’re mixing things up for December. We’re shifting to the afternoon to allow us to welcome the dark. If you’ve been thinking of joining one of these gatherings then this could be the perfect time. And as a newsletter subscriber, don’t forget your £10 discount code of Naturalnetwork10. You’ll experience:

• A fireside circle for grounding and reflection

• Winter cake, warmth and real conversation

• Space to listen to yourself, to nature and to the season

• Gentle facilitation to bring clarity for what’s next

All is Calm, Unless You're On Instagram!

16th December. 6-8 pm at Patch. Tickets here

A conscious conversation about tech, comparison and reclaiming your calm this Christmas.

The festive season is sold to us as a time of joy, connection and warmth - but for many, it’s also a time of overwhelm, comparison and digital distraction.

Freedom doesn’t arrive as a grand gesture, it begins in small cracks.

When the boxes we’ve been placed in start to split under the weight of conformity, we’re offered a glimpse of something else, the possibility of living and working on our own terms. The system will always try to push us back inside, telling us to specialise, to stay efficient, to keep our heads down. But the moment we pause, reflect and choose differently, we begin to reclaim our power.

That’s why I create spaces where people can slow down, think for themselves and reconnect with what matters. Spaces where teams, groups and individuals can move beyond efficiency into effectiveness, beyond labels into values, beyond boxes into freedom.

I’m glad you’re here, walking this path with me.

Nick

Well that’s it for another week. But we don’t have to stop there.

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