Catch-22: I Can See Your Potential. Mine Is Harder.

The library is full. Time to open a book.

In Matt Haig's Midnight Library, the main character jumps into different lives she could have lived. When I read that book years ago, something shifted in me and I started questioning my own.

My coaching journey began there. I wanted to find out who I actually am. Each coach helped me with a specific question, and slowly it got clearer and clearer.

Now I have the freedom to choose. I've started things, changed direction, moved on. But recently I looked deeper at what's holding me back and I realized I'm standing in a room full of possibilities, paralyzed by my own self-belief.

Here's the Catch-22: what I do most naturally for others is spotting their talents, showing them possibilities they couldn't see, reading the patterns beneath the surface. I can see it for individuals. I can see it for whole companies, the environment they're in, the culture shift they need. But for myself? Still the hardest thing.

Here's what the last months have taught me:

• You have to understand who you are without immediately filtering it through "but is that useful?": Your uniqueness doesn't need to justify itself first

• You can sit alone with a concept forever: The moment you say it out loud to another person, it becomes real.

• And hiding? Nobody actually benefits from it. Not you. Not the people who needed to hear what only you can see.

I have a lifelong habit of jumping into cold water before my head can overanalyse the risks. It's always freezing, and I'm always scared. For most of my life, others saw the potential in me before I could see it myself and their belief opened doors I wouldn't have knocked on alone. But now I'm learning to be that person for myself. To see my own potential first. To create my own doors. Because the only way to find your wave is to start swimming.

Confidence doesn't come first. Action does.

So if you're standing in a room full of possibilities but feeling paralysed, let's talk. Sometimes all it takes is someone who can see your potential before you can name it yourself.

Find Your Wave,

Sarah 🌊