I was out for coffee with a lifer friend, one of the few who grew up with me since the church nursery. I had texted the night before to see if she had an hour slot in her lineup of clients, and there we were on a Monday afternoon, getting all our words out in a beautiful space—not the brown Tim Horton’s booth per se, but a safe space built from years of sharing the highs and lows of life.

On a recent podcast, Simon Sinek said,

“When someone is struggling or in need, all they need is 8 minutes from a friend to hold space with them to make them feel better.”

What an honour to receive a text from a friend asking,

“Do you have 8 minutes?”

A mantra or word to frame the next season or year is sometimes chosen haphazardly and other times with great intention.

After significant stress from a season of two parents battling and one dying from cancer in 2022, I thoughtfully chose resilient to depict my posture in 2023.