Well, hello and welcome to the audio edition of today's The Tortoise newsletter.

I'm going to dive straight into this one because it's a biggie.

It's titled, Sometimes Life Surprises Us, and Sometimes It Waits to We're Ready.

Well, hello, mates.

Today was supposed to be a new episode of the podcast, but instead, I have an update, a big one.

Last week, Ben and I recorded what was meant to be today's episode, all about stuff,

our relationship to it, how our philosophy around it has changed,

how we feel about it now. And it was a good chat. They always are. But afterwards, we realised

something. We'd been there before. Many times. We'd had virtually the same conversation,

discussed the same turning points,

shared the same anecdotes,

and that realization solidified something in me.

I've felt stuck for a while,

stuck between where I've been and where I'm going,

what I wanted and what I've got,

who I was and who I'm becoming. And all of this, the writing, the conversations, the realizations,

they've been happening in much the same way through much the same lens since I started Slow Your Home back in 2012.

Even this term's writing feels like I'm treading over familiar territory.

And it turns out you can't walk new ground while you're treading familiar territory.

I'm in a space of transition and looking back at my

archives I can see I've been doing a lot of that evolving here with you. Just

this year I've learnt to step into my own, to take up space, to joyfully let go of

...