Can we Stand in our Full Light - what do we need to do that and not burn out?

The Summer Solstice marks the peak of light. Nature is showing us what it means to fully bloom without apology. The trees do not worry if they are growing too tall. The wildflowers do not ask permission before they open. The natural world reaches towards the light with remarkable confidence and trust.

Why do I find myself wondering - yet again - if I am ‘too much’ ? and I come across to many women leaders who are challenged to unapologetically shine to their full potential?

Not because we lack capability. Not because we lack intelligence, courage or commitment.

Is it because of the social conditioning we grew up with? Because many of us have spent years, even decades, believing we need to tend to everybody else's growth/needs/feelings before our own?

Women are often the emotional glue within families, communities and workplaces. We are still carrying a disproportionate amount of the unpaid labour that keeps society functioning. (60% more than men). We organise, nurture, support, encourage, smooth over conflict, hold things together and quietly carry responsibilities that often go unseen.

Many women leaders are doing this whilst simultaneously leading teams, businesses, organisations and change. No wonder so many of us feel exhausted.

And yet, what fascinates me is that most women I work with do not describe themselves as exhausted.

They describe themselves as not coping, 'burning out, stuck - disconnected from their original drive - or uncertain how to keep on going. Often they will tell me they have achieved many of the things they thought would bring fulfilment, yet something deeper seems to still be calling.

I believe it is a way out of what Sharon Blackie would name as the wasteland we have created over the last few thousand years! and we need radical shifts to find those ways, because what got us here, will not get us out! We dont need another project planner, set of goals, deadlines and spreadsheets (not that ALL of those aren’t hugely valuable in their place)

But we now need a different way of leading. A different way of living. A different relationship with ourselves, our organisations and our teams.

The Solstice offers a powerful leadership question:

What part of yourself is ready to be seen, expressed or trusted more fully?

And perhaps equally important questions:

What needs a light shone upon it because it is no longer truly you?

What roles are you carrying that no longer fit?

What expectations are you still trying to meet?

What stories about success, leadership or worthiness have quietly become too small for who you are becoming?

As familiar systems continue to shift around us, many of the old certainties are disappearing. Leadership today asks something different of us. It asks us to lead from authenticity rather than performance.

From values rather than image. From wholeness rather than exhaustion. But this kind of leadership requires courage. And that courage does not come from pushing harder. It comes from tending ourselves more deeply.

This is something I have witnessed again and again through my work.

Women often discover that before they can lead the next chapter of their lives, they need space to be held by the wider circle.

Space to hear themselves.

Space to heal.

Space to remember what matters.

Space to reconnect with the parts of themselves that have been waiting patiently beneath the noise and demands of daily life.

This is why the Indigo Brave Women's Leadership Retreat exists. Not simply as four days away from normal life.

The retreat itself runs from 29th October to 1st November, but the work begins much earlier.

Not through arduous preparation exercises or another list of things to do. Instead, something starts to shift the moment a woman commits her energy to herself. New conversations begin. New awareness emerges. Different choices become possible. The system starts reorganising itself around a deeper truth.

The Solstice asks us not simply to shine brighter. It asks us to become clearer. Clearer about what we stand for. Clearer about what matters. Clearer about what we are no longer willing to carry. And that clarity requires strength. Not the exhausting strength of endlessly holding everything together. But the deeper strength that comes from being deeply connected to ourselves.

If something in these words resonates with you, perhaps there is a reason. Perhaps there is a part of you that is ready for more light. A part that is ready to be heard. A part that is ready to lead differently.

If you feel called to explore whether our Women's Leadership Retreat is right for you, I would love to talk.

We have payment plans available because we do not want financial circumstances to prevent women leaders from joining if they genuinely feel called to be there.

Because perhaps the world doesn't need us to carry more. Perhaps she needs us to bring what lights us up. So that we can see each other's hearts lighting up too.

And remember that we were never meant to do this alone.