Validation is often expected to arrive as proof that we are on the right path. We look for it in feedback, recognition, numbers, or response. When it does not come, the silence can feel unsettling. Yet this absence is not always a sign of failure. Very often, it is a sign that the work has moved beyond performance and into alignment.
The Quiet Moment Where Doubt Creeps In
That is usually the point where people begin to doubt themselves.
Not loudly. Not dramatically. Quietly. They start to question whether they are late, whether they misread the signs, or whether they were wrong to trust themselves in the first place. Nothing has gone wrong externally, but internally something begins to wobble.
This is not a lack of ability or commitment. It is what happens when progress is measured through response rather than integrity.
Why This Moment Matters More Than You Think
In this week’s episode of Unbox The Podcast, I reflect on why this moment, the one that feels the most uncertain, is often the most meaningful. It is the point where the work asks a deeper question: are you doing this to be seen, or because it is true for you?
I also explore why recognition, when it arrives, does not always land the way we imagine it will, and why continuing without it builds something far more stable than motivation driven by approval.
The Story You Live Inside
This season has been centred around the power of your story. Not the story you present to the world, but the one you live inside when no one is watching, responding, or applauding.
If you are in that quiet space right now, still showing up, still committed, still uncertain whether it is “working”, this conversation is for you.
You are not behind. You are becoming.