Confidence is not an attachment that you use every now and again. Not a bonus extra you add on once you’ve ‘sorted out’ the rest of your life. It’s the foundation. The starting point. It is the thread that weaves through every decision, boundary, relationship, and reinvention. Without confidence we get stuck. We say yes when we want to say no. We second-guess ourselves into silence. We shape-shift into versions of ourselves we barely recognise, just to be liked, or safe, or ‘not too much.’

Somewhere between feeding everyone else, replying to never-ending WhatsApp groups, and wondering if your pelvic floor will ever be the same again, confidence can quietly pack up and leave. And often, we don’t even notice it’s gone until we try to speak up, show up, or step up and something inside us whispers, “Who do you think you are?”

Beautiful poetic quote by Victoria Erikson We often expect ourselves to push forward constantly—to be productive, present, energised. But...