Sabbatical Space

I am extremely grateful to have been given a gift of time over the last few months to reflect, ponder and restore my soul. After 25 years of working in reasonably high pressured charitable organisations and NGO roles and the last 15 years living and working in Cambodia, it was time to stop, go into a neutral time, then start to think through what the next phase might look like for me.  

The model that I was coached through to do this was: ENDINGS– NEUTRAL ZONE – NEW BEGINNINGS 

The ENDINGS phase was about relinquishing responsibility, assigning some of my role to others and clearing my diary to allow the upcoming neutral space to be just that – neutral. I had no idea that COVID would land on top of this time making it doubly important to get it right and hand over well to others to pick up the responsibilities I was carrying.

The NEUTRAL ZONE was challenging.  To disengage and not feel that I was abandoning the team at Flame during the challenging time of COVID-19 was a deeper issue for me than I first realised. It took time to work through this zone and get to a place where I knew I had totally let it go and I had both the brain space and heart space to formulate the next phase of my time in Cambodia.

The final part of the model is NEW BEGINNINGS and I’m not fully through this yet, but I do know that I will not be picking up a hands-on leadership role in Flame Cambodia. Vandeth is more than capable and is doing a much better job than I am able to do. I expect my time to be spent mentoring Cambodian leaders, both inside and outside of Flame, who are passionate about their country, their people and just need someone to walk the journey alongside them. 

What a privilege. What an honour. Watch this space