I made a mistake. 🫣

Actually that subject line isn't strictly true.

I made many mistakes this past week. 

I had new branding photos taken on Wednesday... and realised afterwards I was wearing two different earrings. 

I forgot to buy a present for my brother-in-laws birthday. 

I forgot to prioritise my health - which isn't smart when I have a chronic autoimmune disease - and I ran out of medication. This triggered an excruciating neck spasm followed by three days of pain with my head tilted forward and towards my shoulder. I've had a cluster headache ever since.

And I lost my temper with my kid. 

More than once.

That's the one I feel the worst about because he's had a really awful time.  You see, he just started high school the other day and it has been very hard for him. He is autistic, and was terrified to make the transition. 

... and then on the second day of school he was targeted by older bullies.

Within just three days he'd had thing stolen, his lunch was thrown into a tree and he was poked, prodded and shoved around. He didn't feel safe going to school. 

To say I was gutted was an under-statement. 

The school has been fabulous and swift in their dealing with the issue, but it was my son's response that quite honestly shocked me, and brought me to tears.

He is a kid who is deeply uncomfortable speaking to strangers, being in new places, changing routine or doing anything unexpected. Yet he told his Head of Year that he wanted the group of 7 boys (all much older than him) to apologise to him, in person.

When I asked him why - he quite simply said: "because I need to see they are sorry." He knew what he needed to feel okay and felt they needed to confront their mistakes.

Peeps - this kid is ELEVEN. 

And then... he got on with things. Because in his mind - the problem was fixed. This felt like a revelation to me.

I asked his permission to share this story with you. I told him I wanted to share his wisdom on the importance of owning up to our mistakes, the power of owning what we need and the resilience of moving forward. 

I was bullied in school and I could NEVER have done what he did. 

But today, I'm following his example.  Today, I have made the tough call to delay the launch of the Training Vault that I have been promising you for February.

Because I need a little more time to support my son. Because my health has been poor. My workload has been high and my son showed me it's okay to not be okay and to speak up for what I need. 

I am off to Kuala Lumpur next week for 9 days of workshops and when I'm back, I'm going to hug my son, take a deep breath, appreciate my lesson of resilience and finish making The Training Vault the best thing I've ever done. 

Watch this space. 

How's that for some radical early week honesty?

xx Alecia