FINDING
YOUR
SUPPORT
TEAM
B Y S A L LY A R N O L D
W
hen we go through changes in
our life, we must be prepared
for this: well-meaning friends
and colleagues will see a
sassy, savvy upbeat woman emerge - and
this may challenge them. They might like
to follow your path and do not have the
courage - it’s as simple as this.
There can be a million and one
excuses why they can’t do what you’re
doing - and some of their reasons will
be valid. However, this is about the
next stage of your life, and it will drive
home some truths about you and the
people around you, even though many
44
of those who challenge you will be long-
standing friends.
In the years since I turned 40 and began
this journey of change, friends and family
have questioned me about what I have
been doing. Sometimes it was as if it were
a competition or a test. “So, what have you
achieved so far?” It was as if I had to report
in on where my life was going.
When I left my role as Head of Business
Development at The Australian Ballet and
started studying psychotherapy, I found
that some of my closest friends questioned
me like a school principal about why I
was going down this path. At the time I
didn’t realize that this was about them,
and their discomfort around personal
development. Some of my friends found
it was easier to stay in an unfulfilling
marriage. They would say to me, “How will
I survive financially if I leave my husband?”
And then have affairs to satisfy their
sexual needs. It was as if they were living
double lives.
H O N E S T LY W O M A N M A G A Z I N E - S U B S C R I B E N O W