On stepping into a new Identity
(even when its actually an old one)
2023 was quite the year.
It was the year I burned my business to the ground. Not intentionally, yet, I was irrevocably there, wielding the match.
It was the year I realised, too late, that I was beyond what may be diagnosed as clinical burnout, that my mental health collapsed.
The year everything seemed to come crashing down.
Yet it was also the year we left London and moved into a dilapidated, Edwardian town house by the sea, and slowly, with love, worked to bring her back to life.
I came back to life too.
2024, so far, has been very different. I withdrew, but grew. I was outwardly quiet, but internally working through things, figuring shit out. Becoming who the next version of me needed to be.
There was a lot of soul searching. Even more sense making.
And then, she arrived - Rebecca, Sense Maker.
A brand new Identity. One that encapsulated everything I did, the way I thought, how I approached life, and work.
An identity I could stand in with conviction, as I emerged phoenix-like from the ashes of the shit show that was 2023.
Only, it wasn’t actually new.
Sensemaking “refers to the process by which people construct meaning from the world around them” (thanks Chat GPT).
A Sense Maker, then, “takes raw data, patterns, or narratives and frames them in a way that makes sense within a particular context, enabling better decision-making or problem-solving” (thank you again).
By trade I’m a brand consultant, educator and mentor. Distilling complex thoughts, opinions and philosophies into simple, compelling narratives and messaging is literally what I do, day in, day out.
For the first four years of my business, I positioned myself as a Brand Strategist.
It never felt quite right. There was a lingering sense, a hangover from my corporate days no doubt, that to be credible that’s what I should call myself. Brand Strategies were, after all, the deliverable.
But that wasn’t the real value my clients took away from our time together.
Time and time again they’d say…
“She has this knack of knowing what you want to say, before you feel brave enough to choose the words”
“She has a way of seeing into your soul and mirroring it back to you in ways you never quite thought possible”
“She has his amazing skill of drawing out the best in people, and distilling it into a powerful message”
It was the process of unearthing their beliefs, opinions, perspectives and making sense of them in their own mind, that they most valued. That was the transformation. The strategy was a mere implementation tool in comparison.
Yet, I persisted. Brand Strategist I was.
There were other clues, too.
I mean, my literal tag line from day one was - ahem - The Art of Figuring Shit Out.
I know.
When I looked back even further than this, to feedback I’d received as an employee, or from employees, from people to whom I was a client, it’s all there.
But somehow I couldn’t see enough credibility in this skill, to own it. I told myself that to ‘sell’ this as a service, or even position myself in that space with any integrity I’d need to re-train as a coach, facilitator, mentor, you-name-it-I-assumed-I-needed-it.
It was of course, fear talking. Now, I view it differently.
Something in me shifted. I began to believe it. Today when asked what I do, I’ll offer up a version of this…
“I’m a Sense Maker. I take the messy, chaotic, brilliant thoughts, perspectives, opinions and beliefs battling for airspace in my client’s minds, connect the dots and then organise them into useful, compelling, galvanising narratives and identities, that just happen to take the form as brands.”
And it feels good, really good. Especially that last bit; the spaciousness of it!
Which, rather tenuously, leads me to the here and now, and why I’m cultivating my own little corner of Substack.
Like my clients, I too am multifaceted. I earn money in different ways, I’d love to earn money from writing.
I’m a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend. I’m spiritual, academic, interested in topics ranging from our disconnection to nature to philosophy, neuro-science and nervous-system regulation to archetypes and anthropology.
I believe all play a part in our collective Sense Making of the roles we adopt in the world around us, of the identities we want to step into. And I intend to explore what that is, here.
Because for everything I’ve just shared, I’ve no intention of this being a business page, not only anyway.
The identity of this Sense Maker is far wider reaching, than that.
Burning through the rebirth. Beautiful story and one I’m feeling as I work with you.
Good to see you back / here Rebecca.