Return to yourself.

Many years ago — back when the hairline was better (still questionable) and the Calm App wasn’t a mandatory afternoon survival tool — Nat and I ended up at a 2-Day Wellness Workshop. 

It was the two of us… and a few hundred other humans… all there to unpack the layers of longevity and wellbeing with Marcus Pearce and Dr Damian Kristoss. 

We talked about everything: Relationships. Strength. Connection. Health. Fitness. Family. Nutrition. 

We were in our late 20s — kid-free, energetic, not yet inside the next chapter. And then, deep into Day One, the presenters asked the room to identify their hobbies. 

Not their kids’ hobbies. Not what they used to love before life got busy. Their hobbies now. The things that lit them up. Filled their cup. Made them feel like themselves. 

And the room went silent. Completely silent. 

A few hundred 30–50-year-olds — most of whom had kids — unable to name even one thing that brought them joy anymore. 

Because who the hell has time for that? Life is too busy. The kids need me. Work is more important. 

You could feel it in the air — an entire room of health-seeking humans who had quietly drifted away from themselves.

They were there, but not fully. 

Getting through the days, but not really living in them. 

Losing energy, identity, and vibrancy — slowly, quietly, unintentionally. 

Back then, we didn’t fully get it. We heard it… but we didn’t feel it. Fast-forward a decade, add one energetic kid (and soon a newborn), nine years of running a small business, and the very real experience of ageing — and suddenly that moment hits very differently. 

We feel it now. We see how easy it is to slip. To give everything to everyone else and leave yourself for last. 

But here’s the part we refuse to accept: Losing yourself might be inevitable in some seasons — but staying lost is always optional. 

So we fight it. We step out of the hamster wheel. We reconnect with who we need to be and what we need to do to maintain a better sense of self — not just for the people we love, but for our own sanity, vitality, and identity.

Because the truth is simple: 

There will always be chapters where you drift. 

Where the things that made you feel like you get pushed to the edges. 

But it’s your responsibility — and your opportunity — to come back. 

Any age. Any stage. You can return to yourself. ‘

And at Northside, you don’t have to do the work alone.