60-second read | Part 3 of 5: The Heroine's Journey Series
You got the promotion. You got the respect. You got the salary.
But somewhere along the way, you lost you.
Maybe it was the day you stopped crying in meetings. Or the morning you decided that needing rest was weakness. Or the moment you packed away your creativity, your softness, your big, beautiful feelings, and told yourself they didn’t belong in “serious” spaces.
You didn’t mean to leave parts of yourself behind. You were trying to survive. And survival, in most corporate cultures, can require a kind of quiet Corporate Amputation: cutting off the very parts that make you whole.
The Heroine's Journey: What We Cut Off to Climb
In myth and story, the Hero’s Journey is about leaving home, conquering the dragon, and returning victorious. It’s linear, loud, and external.
The Heroine’s Journey is different. It’s retrieval-focused.
Here’s the contrast I see again and again in high-achieving leaders:
- Hero’s Journey: “Push through. Prove yourself. Keep going.”
- Heroine’s Journey: “Go inward. Listen. Retrieve what was exiled.”
Corporate Amputation often looks like this:
- You cut off sensitivity because it felt like a liability.
- You cut off rest because the system rewarded exhaustion.
- You cut off creativity because there was no space for it in the meeting room.
- You cut off your full emotional range because it felt “too much”.
And yes, it works. For a while.
But then you find yourself at the top of the ladder, wondering why it feels so hollow.
The Earthquake at Midlife
Midlife doesn’t arrive like a gentle breeze. It arrives like an earthquake.
It shakes the foundations you built your life on. It asks the questions you’ve been avoiding: “Is this it? Is this all there is? Who would I be if I stopped performing?”
This isn’t a crisis. It’s a call back to wholeness.
The parts you amputated? They didn’t die. They’ve been waiting. And now they’re knocking, asking to come home.
The Way Home: One Part at a Time
You don’t need to overhaul your entire life tomorrow. You don’t need to quit your job or burn it all down (unless you do, and that’s valid too).
But you do need to start retrieval.
1) Name the amputation
Ask yourself: What part of me did I cut off to succeed?
- Rest (without guilt)
- Creativity (making things just for joy)
- Feeling (tears, laughter, big emotion)
- Intuition (your inner knowing, not just “data”)
2) Retrieve it in one small, real action
Pick one and keep it simple:
- Rest: Block 30 minutes this week to do nothing. No “earning it”. No justification.
- Creativity: Buy a notebook. Doodle. Write terrible poetry. Make something “pointless”. That’s the point.
- Feeling: Let yourself cry at the film. Laugh too loud. Stop managing your emotional temperature for everyone else’s comfort.
Small returns are still returns. This is how wholeness rebuilds.
This Is the Work
The Heroine's Journey isn't about becoming someone new. It's about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.
It's about integration. Wholeness. Bringing back the exiled parts and saying: "You're allowed here. You always were."
It's messy. It's non-linear. And it's the most important work you'll ever do.
Coming Home to the Wild
There is no "corporate armour" that can withstand the shock of mountain water. Cold water swimming is my ultimate way of coming home to myself—it’s visceral, it’s alive, and it’s unapologetic.
I’m so excited to be sharing this magic with the brave souls who have already said ‘YES’ to joining our Snowdonia retreats.
How can we work together:
Women's Only Transformation Retreats 2026
Imagine five days of pure, soulful recalibration in the heart of the mountains. We’re talking:
✨Wild swimming in crystal-clear waters
✨ Beautiful mountain and coastal trails that make you feel alive
✨ Exploring and meditating in our ancient, protected woodland
✨ Restorative yoga that brings you back to your centre
✨ Coaching throughout the whole experience
It’s an "Embodied Systemic" experience designed to help you shed the "corporate armour" and reconnect with your inner authority, your beautiful, soulful feminine glow, and your sparkling aliveness.
✔️ April Retreat: Thursday 30th – Monday 4th May, Sweden – FULL
✔️ June Retreat: Wednesday 3rd – Sunday 7th June, Rhiw Goch Inn, Snowdonia – FULL
✔️ September Retreat: Wednesday 9th – Sunday 13th September, Rhiw Goch Inn, Snowdonia – AVAILABLE
✨ Secure your place, and make the most of the early bird 10% discount, available until 31st March 2026 ✨
✔️ £585 (usually £650) – all-inclusive, only addition is your travel to Rhiw Goch
💡 Next in the series: In Part 4, we're talking about sensitivity: and why it's not the weakness you were taught it was. It's actually your greatest leadership gift. See you there.
