How I found freedom in a barrel of icy water ...

It was December in rural France. I’d walked away from a safe, successful corporate career in the UK. Traded suits and board meetings for mud, stone walls, and a house that needed rebuilding.

That day, I needed to mix lime mortar. But the surface of the water barrel was frozen solid. So I started smashing through the ice with a stone. Bare hands. Cold wind.

And as the ice cracked, a thought hit me harder than the cold:

This is me.

Not polished. Not pleasing others. Not boxed inside a nice, warm office. Here, in the mud and the cold, I felt something real. It was grounded and peaceful. Like I was finally home.

This is me.

And then came a rush of joy. Rich, visceral, OMG-I-remember-who-I-am JOY. I felt at peace inside and yet fully alive at the same time

It made no sense on paper. But in that cold, muddy field everything inside me knew:

This is me. This is the freedom I’ve been looking for.

It wasn’t easy. It didn’t look like success. Most of my friends thought me crazy.

But this was my kind of crazy. Muddy. Cold. Raw. Absolutely, completely mine.

A selfish freedom. Not selfish in a way that hurts anyone else.

Selfish in the way that saves your life.

Because Selfish Freedom means choosing your truth. Even when it terrifies you. Even when everyone raises their eyebrows or shakes their head.

Selfish Freedom means smashing the ice. Taking off the mask. And being unashamedly, very vulnerably, you.

If you had a smashing-the-ice moment - where you suddenly got a real embodied sense that you were finally on the right path - do share!

And if you feel you need one, then take heart. You’re not lost.

You’re waking up.