It’s Your Move

Hello, hello, and a very happy 2025 to you! Well, it’s still January🎉

I am so excited to kick off with the first edition of It’s Your Move!

In this newsletter, we’ll dive into all sorts of things. We will talk about embracing unconventional ideas, overcoming resistance, stepping into new versions of ourselves, and yes, embracing your cringe.

It’s about:

• Creating a life that’s authentic, bold, and unapologetically you.

• Living from your hopes and not from your fears.

But before we jump in, I would like to pay tribute to ABBA as I do every New Year. Please sing along… and let’s set the tone for a fantastic 2025!

So; I would love for us to focus on 2025, but let’s rewind a little bit first…

It was the beginning of 2020. I had just completed a two-year program with the University of Oxford, and the future was looking bright.

But before I could celebrate, life dropped a plot twist into my plans.

Covid was speeding through Italy like wildfire. And just like that, we were locked down for two months, confined to an apartment, watching doomsday updates on TV.

It was a time of fear and uncertainty…

As we had nowhere to go, unable to make plans, there was lots of time to reflect. And one question kept popping up in my mind: What is a good life?

With all the time in the world to think, I started with subtraction.

For me, a good life wasn’t:

• Being stuck in a job where I was too stifled to thrive. My boss and I didn’t align, and I realised I didn’t want to spend my future trying to make it work. So, I took a career break.

• Big city life. The hustle, the stress, the concrete jungle? No, thanks. We started making plans to leave the city.

When lockdown lifted, we took a leap of faith. We left Rome for a quaint village called Poggio Catino.

Poggio Catino is tucked away in the mountains, on the outskirts of the eternal city. With only about 600 inhabitants, it’s a town of forests, olive groves, ancient castles, folk tales, and traditions.

It’s the kind of place where time seems to stand still, everyone knows everyone (and where the local grandmas run an intelligence network that would put the CIA to shame).

Life here moves at a slow pace, the air is smog free, wild boars roam freely at night, and cats have claimed this village as their capital city.

But my journey to a good life wasn’t just about saying no or changing location; it was also about saying yes.

I said yes to:

• Being present physically and mentally with my children.

• Learning from the seasoned women in the village. I joined a coffee drinking committee (comitiva) of ladies strictly 80 years and above.

• It was about approaching life from abundance instead of a deficit mindset.

Sounds idyllic, right? Yes and no. Life wasn’t laughter over caffè lattes all the time.

Here’s the truth:

• I faced self-doubt wondering if I had made the right decision to leave my job.

• Unemployment sucks.

• I suffered from a major identity crisis. From years identifying by what I did for work, to changing diapers full time and wondering ‘what next’?

• And my new wardrobe, pyjamas and sweatpants on repeat wasn’t exactly great for my self-confidence.

Then there was the question from people I dreaded: “What do you do?”

When I said, “I’m a full-time mom,” people’s reactions were, well, less than enthusiastic: dubious, amused, irritated, felt sorry for me, thought I was being a grifter.

So, I rebranded myself: I became the Domestic Affairs Director to give my office the recognition and importance it deserves.

I even branded my office.

But the hardest part?

I had to acknowledge that the professional path I had been pursuing might have been a means to an end, not the end itself. That was tough to sit with.

But I leaned in. I committed to exploring the unknown as a path to a new version of myself with new plans and new dreams.

Here’s what I did:

↳ I embraced being a stay-home-mom: playtime, crafts, chaos, and all the drool and diaper changes.

↳ I got clear about what I really wanted and why. I used the same skills I used in developing strategy for large programmes to do this.

↳ I started building my own network from scratch.

↳ I overcame my fear of being seen and started writing online (cringe and all). As a social media-phobe this felt like jumping off a cliff.

 ↳ I started experimenting with my talents and learning new skills.

Fast-forward to today; I feel more in-charge of my personal and professional journey than I have ever felt before.

↳ Have I figured it out? Heck no! And that’s the fun part.

↳ Am I my ideal weight? Let’s not go there. 

↳ Do I still have a long way to go? Absolutely.

But here’s what I do have:

↳ Clarity on who I am, what I value, and how I want to contribute to this world.

↳ Confidence that I can do hard things and set challenges for myself—and achieve them.

↳ Commitment to evolving into version 2.0 of myself.

↳ Optimism and the occasional adrenaline rush that comes from pushing my limits.

And this is only the start of this part of my journey.

Now, it’s your move.

To help you figure this out I have a New Year’s gift for you.

I have created a Personal Strategy Workbook.

It’s a tool designed to guide you like a personal coach at your fingertips.

This workbook will help you reflect deeply, set clear goals, and hold yourself accountable as you move toward your vision of a good life.

Whether you are planning your next steps or redefining your direction, this is the resource to kickstart your journey.

Download it for free here.

What’s coming up next?

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be delving into:

• Embracing unconventional ideas

• Overcoming resistance to step into a version of yourself you haven’t met yet

• Embracing your cringe (why wouldn’t you?)

• And turning your expertise into impact

Because we want to live a life that reflects our hopes and not our fears. Keep an eye out for them!

Again, I would like to thank you for joining me on this journey. My hope is that this newsletter will become a two-way conversation.

I look forward to your questions, suggestions, and new ideas; heck, feel free to disagree with me if you like!

Because that’s what growing together and inspiring each other is about.

Here’s to a year of courage, clarity, and intentional living.

Let’s create a life we love, one move at a time.

Cheers to creating your good life,

Jane (Domestic Affairs Director)

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