Sarala Life — Life in Chapters: Careers, Canines, Cabernet & Courage

Yesterday wasn’t extraordinary.

And perhaps that’s exactly why it was.

I recorded a podcast.

It is something I have quietly wanted to do for a long time. One of those goals you tuck away without telling too many people because you aren’t sure if it will ever happen. Then one day, someone asks. Not because you chased them, but because your work, your story and your voice found their way into the right room.

After we finished recording, I replayed parts of the conversation in my head.

Did that make sense?

Did I explain that well enough?

Will any of it resonate?

Maybe I should have spoken more slowly- because my passion doesn’t need rapid fire- but maybe it does.

It’s funny how even after years of speaking professionally—to Board rooms, conference audiences and leadership teams—the vulnerability never completely disappears when the conversation becomes personal.

This wasn’t about legislation or governance frameworks.

This was about me.

About identity.

About ambition.

About shedding shame.

About rebuilding when the ladder you climbed no longer leads where you thought it would.

There is a different kind of courage in speaking without hiding behind expertise.

I hope something I said helps someone. If it only helps one woman feel a little less alone, then perhaps it was enough.

The weather was beautiful afterwards.

The kind of Caribbean day that feels almost rude to spend indoors.

So I went into the pool.

A year ago, I probably would have thought twice. I worry about getting darker. I think about the sun. I think about my skin.

Yesterday I thought something different.

I don’t want to miss my own life because I’m protecting myself from a tan.

The water was warm.

The breeze was soft.

My dogs wandered around, Isabella barking in her glory, while I sat reading my book with a cheeky gin and tonic close by.

There is something strangely comforting about the smell of chlorine lingering on your skin after you’ve been in the pool. I didn’t grow up with that guilty pleasure- for fear of said tan- but now, it reminds me of a moment of fun that doesn’t need to end, of an experience had…strange, but welcome.

Somewhere over the last year, I’ve become a water person.

Actually, if I’m honest, I’ve become an ocean person.

There is something about being in water that reminds me that life doesn’t always have to be driven by productivity. Sometimes it can simply hold you.

As I’ve moved into my forties, I’ve become more aware of my body and mind changing.

Not dramatically.

Just… honestly.

My cycle affects me differently now.

I can feel the tiredness arrive before I recognise it.

Sometimes I’m irritable without wanting to be.

Sometimes I need more rest than I think I should.

For someone who has always prided herself on discipline—exercising, eating well, pushing through—it has been surprisingly difficult to accept that my body isn’t asking me to work harder.

It’s asking me to listen.

There is a difference.

I’ve realised recently that I crave a soft life.

Not a life without purpose.

Not a life without ambition.

But a life where softness has a seat at the table.

A life where rest isn’t something I earn.

A life where someone occasionally says, I’ve got you.

If I’m honest, I don’t think I have that yet.

I’m learning to create parts of it for myself.

Perhaps that is what yesterday really gave me.

Not a podcast.

Not a swim.

Not a lazy afternoon.

Permission.

Permission to stop measuring my life only by the milestones.

Because if we’re not careful, we’ll spend our whole lives waiting for the next promotion, the next client, the next opportunity, the next holiday, the next version of ourselves.

And meanwhile, we’ll miss the warm water.

We’ll miss the dogs lying nearby.

We’ll miss the breeze.

We’ll miss the smell of chlorine on our skin.

We’ll miss the satisfaction of speaking from our hearts instead of our résumés.

We’ll miss today.

I have spent so much of my life becoming.

Building.

Proving.

Achieving.

I’m beginning to think there is another practice worth mastering.

Enjoying.

Perhaps that is success too.

Not because life is perfect.

But because, for a few precious hours on an ordinary Tuesday, I remembered that I was living it instead of simply preparing for what comes next.

So let me leave you with this…

When was the last time you let yourself fully enjoy an ordinary moment without rushing to the next thing?

I’d love to know what that moment looked like for you.